Bitcoin Retreats Below $77K as Asian Equities Fall Ahead of US Midterm Results
Bitcoin extended its losses on Tuesday, slipping nearly 2% to trade below $77,000 during Asian hours. The decline wiped out the cryptocurrency’s previous session recovery and pushed prices beneath the late-Sunday low of approximately $77,600.
The downturn came as technology stocks faced renewed selling pressure, particularly across the semiconductor sector. Weakness in equities added to investor caution ahead of the US midterm elections, leaving cryptocurrencies under pressure.
Most major digital assets also traded lower. Zcash (ZEC), which had outperformed several large-cap tokens on Monday, fell nearly 10% to around $1,140.
Hyperliquid’s HYPE declined 5% to approximately $84, while Solana (SOL) dropped 3% to about $92. BNB lost 2%, moving below the $700 threshold. Ether and Dogecoin also slipped 2% each, with ETH holding just above $2,250.
XRP was little changed near $1.25, while TRX gained around 2%, making it the only major cryptocurrency among the group to trade higher, according to CoinDesk data.
Chip Stocks Extend Their Decline
The pressure on Bitcoin followed another sell-off in technology shares. A US semiconductor gauge recorded a third consecutive losing session, taking its total decline over that period to 12%.
The Nasdaq 100 has dropped 10% from its recent high, meeting the threshold for a market correction. The S&P 500 also moved lower, losing 0.5%.
Losses spread across Asian markets. South Korea’s Kospi fell 3%, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 1%. Japanese markets remained closed for a holiday.
Chinese stocks also retreated despite renewed encouragement from the country’s central bank for financial institutions to make greater use of available stock-market support measures.
The yuan’s recent strength also came to an end. The currency snapped a 13-day winning streak, its longest since 1996, after the People’s Bank of China instructed banks to increase the amount of foreign currency they hold in reserve.
Election Uncertainty Keeps Traders Cautious
Developments surrounding Iran provided some relief to energy markets, with oil prices falling sharply as investors grew more optimistic about the possibility of an end to the conflict. However, the drop in crude prices was not enough to improve overall market sentiment.
Investors are also assessing the potential implications of Tuesday’s US midterm elections. The first election results are expected to become available when Asian markets reopen on Wednesday.
Until then, traders face a combination of political uncertainty, weakness in technology shares and shifting geopolitical expectations. These factors have kept risk appetite subdued, with Bitcoin struggling to regain the ground lost during the latest market decline.
