Bitcoin slumped to around $63,490 on July 28, edging below $64,000 as Asian markets took a sharp downturn. The decline gained momentum after U.S. markets closed Monday, accelerating alongside a selloff in South Korean tech shares. The KOSPI index plunged more than 8%, triggering a market-wide trading halt, and continued falling nearly 10% during the session. Major tech players like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix dropped over 12%, weighed down by worries over AI investments, financing risks, and increased competition from Chinese chipmakers.
This Asian rout rippled across cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin fell from just under $65,000 to lows near $63,200 before a modest recovery. Other tokens including Ether, XRP, and Solana also softened. The move pushed Bitcoin into the lower half of its $60,000 to $66,000 range, with short-term momentum weakening as reflected by an RSI below 50, though whale wallets have been accumulating nearly 20,000 BTC in the past week. Volatility remains compressed, and the upcoming Federal Reserve decision adds uncertainty to the market’s next direction.
Bitcoin's price action mirrored struggles in tech stocks highlighted by a 4% drop in Japan’s Nikkei and a 2.2% slide in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, where Nvidia sank 5%. Typically, Bitcoin tracks equity moves driven by broad macroeconomic concerns like interest rates or liquidity, but the correlation can fluctuate. Tuesday’s price drop seems tied to a broader risk-off mood rather than solely the KOSPI crash.
Meanwhile, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw an outflow nearing $11.64 million on Monday, with the IBIT fund facing the largest withdrawals. Despite the turbulence, wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC quietly added 19,696 coins over the past eight days, signaling some accumulation amid the dip.
