In brief
- Robinhood was down 9% at one point, just a day after an upbeat Q3 earnings call.
- Bitcoin, which steadied on Wednesday, fell below $101,000 before rallying slightly.
- Macroeconomic concerns, including the 37-day government shutdown, have weighed on crypto and other risk-on markets.
Crypto stocks plummeted amid a wider market downturn as investors fretted anew about macroeconomic uncertainties, including the latest U.S. jobs data, escalating trade tensions and a government shuttering, now in its record 37th day.
Robinhood Market shares fell more than 7% to trade at $131, but were down more than 9% at one point, sinking to their lowest mark in more than two weeks, according to Yahoo Financial data. The drop followed just a day after the company surpassed analysts’ estimates for revenues and earnings per share for its third quarter ending Sept. 30. Crypto exchange giant Coinbase tumbled over 6%, while Galaxy Digital was off 4%.
“The entire crypto market is simply being buffered by macroeconomic events and changes in sentiment,” Mark Palmer, an equity analyst at investment bank Benchmark, told Decrypt. “As it pertains to interest rate expectations, tariffs, (and) all of the other elements that go into the macro outlook.”
“As much as they may not directly impact a lot of crypto stocks, they are increasing the risk premium on the market overall, and in the absence of any positive catalysts, that’s taking crypto stocks down along with everything else.”
The carnage came amid growing unrest about the shutdown that has already started affecting the U.S. economy and sagging economic indicators. On Thursday, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that U.S.-based employers had cut 153,074 jobs in October, nearly triple the total for the same period a year ago and the highest total for the month since 2003.
The U.S. trade wars with China and other significant trading partners have also shown signs of sapping the economy.
Major miners dropped with MARA Holdings off 3.6% and CleanSpark and Riot Blockchain down over 5%. Bitcoin treasury Strategy declined 6.5%, while Ethereum treasuries BitMine Immersion and SharpLink Gaming fell 7% and 6%, respectively.
Palmer noted that the government impasse had waylaid the passage of eagerly anticipated crypto legislation, the Clarity Act and a separate market structure bill (RFIA), that would potentially buoy markets.
“Given that the government remains shut down, such that the timing of the enactment of this legislation is uncertain, there’s really no underlying catalyst you know that would push prices higher,” Palmer said.
Indexes were in negative territory with the tech-focused Nasdaq off nearly 2% and the S&P 500, which has a hefty technology component, and Dow Jones Industrial Average both down more than 1%.
Bitcoin was recently trading at about $101,500, down 2% over the past 24 hours, even after recovering some lost ground, according to crypto market data provider CoinGecko. The largest cryptocurrency by market value has fallen about 18% since reaching its record high above $126,000 a month ago. Ethereum, the second largest digital asset, was off 3.6%.
Investors’ optimism has declined in recent weeks amid a market downturn, although in a Myriad prediction market, 57% of respondents believe that BTC’s next move will be to $115,000. Myriad is a unit of Dastan, the parent company of an editorially independent Decrypt.
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