Monday’s rebound in crypto markets quickly unwound on Tuesday with bitcoin slipping back below $104,000. After briefly topping $107,000 overnight, the largest cryptocurrency fell to $103,200 by U.S. morning hours. The drop erased the gains fueled by President Donald Trump’s “tariff dividend” plan and rising optimism that the U.S. government shutdown is about to end.
Ethereum’s ether fell 1.2% to below $3,500, and large-cap altcoins such as Solana’s SOL, XRP, and SUI dropped 3%-4%, marking a broad retreat across digital assets.
The selling extended into crypto-related equities, especially among bitcoin miners positioned as infrastructure plays in the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. CleanSpark dropped 8%, Hut 8 fell nearly 9%, and Core Scientific tumbled 11.5% in the early session. TeraWulf and Bitdeer also booked double-digit declines.
The sector-wide weakness stemmed from a roster of firms reporting weaker-than-expected earnings and growth outlook, indicating that the red-hot AI infrastructure trade, driven by lofty expectations of demand for increased computing capacity, is due for a correction.
Cloud computing provider CoreWeave lowered its next quarter outlook, citing delays in data center development, sending its stock 15% lower to the weakest level since early September. TeraWulf reported weak earnings, and BitDeer posted deeper-than-expected losses and delays in its next-generation ASIC chips.
Rounding up the negative headlines was a major investment bank selling its entire stake in chipmaking giant and AI bellwether, driving the world’s most valuable company’s stock lower. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index fell 0.7%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.3%.
Also this morning, ADP reported that U.S. private employers cut an average of 11,250 jobs per week in the four weeks ending Oct. 25, signaling a deteriorating labor market.
The CME FedWatch tool now prices a roughly 67% chance of an interest-rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, while another source sees it slightly higher at 72%.
With Tuesday’s tumble, BTC has now filled the so-called CME gap formed over the weekend. The gap occurs when bitcoin futures traded on the CME, the preferred marketplace among U.S. institutions, opens higher or lower than where it closed the previous session.
BTC revisiting these gaps in price is often seen in market behavior, though not all gaps are necessarily filled. While the overall sentiment on crypto markets has improved the past few days as BTC and ETH bounced from the lows, traders are using the rebound as an opportunity to take profits across the board.
“When it comes to alts, the theme is still profit-taking into strength, leading to short-lived outperformance,” a strategist noted. “Consensus is building that majors need to move higher first.”
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