Bitcoin fell as much as 2.8 percent, exacerbating a recent decline that has wiped out all of the year’s gains. | Photo credit: Dado Ruvic
The cryptocurrency fell as much as 2.8 percent, exacerbating a recent decline that has wiped out all of the year’s gains. That increased pressure on Asian stock markets, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index falling more than 2 percent, its worst performance in a month, and almost every market in the region losing ground.
The cryptocurrency’s decline came as investors already worried about the pace of U.S. interest rate cuts and shifted their focus to high-profile gains, including those from Nvidia Corp., which reports its results this week. But Bitcoin’s decline below the closely watched level was enough to turn a broad sell-off during the Asian morning into a rout.
“Bitcoin’s extended sell-off has certainly heightened the market’s risk alarm and heightened the sense that something deeper may be shifting beneath the surface,” said Hebe Chen, an analyst at Vantage Markets in Melbourne.
Some market observers have raised the prospect that the crypto sell-off could lead to forced selling by retail investors, who may have to dump other assets to meet margin calls. That could create a feedback loop from the crypto sell-off to other markets, as bigger price drops fuel margin calls in a growing number of asset classes.
The sell-off in various markets can also be self-reinforcing even without the amplifying effect of leverage. Cryptocurrencies have soared along with stocks this year, as investors left fears of a global trade war behind and began betting on innovation to fuel a cross-market rally. That hope now seems to be fading.
“Momentum is a self-feeding machine,” says Anna Wu, cross-asset investment strategist at Van Eck. “Weakening US sentiment, led by traders selling Nvidia positions ahead of earnings and macro data, has spilled over into Asian markets. Using Bitcoin as a proxy for market sentiment, this points to fears of a bear market.”
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Published on November 18, 2025
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