Bitcoin The dollar pulled back quickly in early U.S. trading on Thursday, falling 2% in minutes after once again failing to break through growing resistance.
The largest cryptocurrency fell to around $73,500 during early U.S. trading and is now down more than 1% in the past 24 hours. The move comes after the cryptocurrency price retreated again after breaking above $75,000.
Meanwhile, the stunning stock market rally – which drove the Nasdaq and S&P 500 to record highs yesterday – has paused. More than an hour after the opening bell, both indexes were down about 0.1%.
Cryptocurrency-related stocks also pulled back across the board. Coinbase (COIN), Strategy (MSTR), Robinhood (HOOD) and Circle (CRCL) were all down about 2%-3% in early trading.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices rose about 2%, returning to the $90 level, as ongoing geopolitical tensions continued to fuel supply concerns.
The $75,000 to $76,000 range is crucial for Bitcoin as this was the level it was trading at before the market crashed on February 5, when Bitcoin dropped to $60,000. If Bitcoin prices break above this level, it could mean greater price volatility, taking Bitcoin prices back to around $90,000 where they started the year.
Software to catch up with Bitcoin
Before the conflict in the Middle East at the end of February, Bitcoin and software stocks moved almost in sync, with a correlation of nearly 1:1. Bitcoin has consistently outperformed software ETF IGV during this period.
Bitcoin has gained more than 11% since the conflict began in late February, while IGV has gained about 2%, fueling talk that Bitcoin is starting to decouple from software stocks.
However, over the past five days, IGV is catching up, rising as much as 11%, while Bitcoin is flat. This suggests that software may have simply lagged behind Bitcoin and is now catching up, rather than completely decoupling.
IGV rose 1% on Thursday, while Bitcoin fell 1.5%.