Bitcoin buyers snap up a brief drop below $80,000 as Asian stocks rebound
- Bitcoin rebounded 1.3% to nearly $82,000 after briefly falling below $80,000, while ZEC led major cryptocurrencies with an 8% gain.
- Asian stocks also recovered, led by gains in South Korean chipmakers, though Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing slipped amid concerns about artificial intelligence spending.
- Traders are watching whether Bitcoin can break above $84,000 and awaiting remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh after hotter-than-expected inflation data.
Bitcoin rose 1.3% to nearly $82,000 as of Friday Asian morning hours after buyers pounced on a brief drop below $80,000, with Asian chip stocks bouncing back from Thursday’s rout.
ZEC was the standout among the majors, jumping 8% to about $1,190. SOL, ether, XRP and TRX added about 1% apiece, and BNB went nowhere, according to CoinDesk data.
Bitcoin’s break below $80,000 lasted all of two hours. The slide on Thursday took it to about $79,800, cutting through the roughly $80,400 low that buyers had defended twice in the past week, and that’s where they showed up again. Bitcoin was back near $82,500 within two hours and held above $81,000 through Asian trading.
Stock traders bought the dip too. MSCI’s Asia Pacific equities gauge climbed 1.3%, with roughly three shares rising for every one that fell. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both gained more than 2%, and South Korea’s Kospi jumped nearly 3% after closing at its lowest since April on Thursday.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing was the odd one out, slipping even after an upbeat outlook as worries over AI spending hung around.