• Bitcoin price down by roughly 5% to 6% after the Nasdaq Composite plunges 5.5%.
  • Over $1B in liquidations wiped out bullish long bets, highlighting price swings similar to those of AI stocks.
  • This raises key questions about whether BTC is behaving more like an AI stock than a digital alternative to gold.

Bitcoin is trading near $76,000 after dropping roughly 5% to 6% in tandem with a broader market sell-off where the Nasdaq Composite Index (INDEXNASDAQ: .IXIC) plunged over 5.5%. 

Over $1 billion in crypto derivatives liquidations accelerated the drop, wiping out bullish “long” bets and showing that speculative leverage drives short-term price swings, much like those seen in artificial intelligence (AI) stocks. 

Bitcoin vs. Nasdaq and Gold: What 21-Day and 90-Day Correlations Reveal

Bitcoin’s recent price action has been closely correlated with risk assets.  According to Corgano’s daily close data through Nov. 5, the 90-day correlation of daily returns was +0.49 with the Nasdaq and +0.51 with gold. 

Both figures are in moderate to strong positive territory. The Nasdaq correlation has averaged about +0.47 over the last year, and the longer-term correlation of gold is around +0.24, indicating that the higher correlation of gold is more recent.

The equity link is even stronger in the shorter time frames. In late October and early November, multiple analyses of about 30-day timeframes showed that Bitcoin’s correlation with the Nasdaq was in the range of +0.60 to +0.63, which is above the 90-day correlation and is consistent with the transmission of AI and semiconductor selling pressure into crypto. 

Bitcoin also declined roughly 5–6% on the day of the Nasdaq’s 5.5% drop, settling down near $76,000, the next session trading in the mid-$75,000s, while gold remained flat or slightly higher. 

That said, this data indicates that the ‘Digital Gold’ thesis is winning over a multi-month outlook. This is because BTC can still be pulled down by a sudden liquidity shock or tech crash in the short term due to its Nasdaq +0.49 correlation, but its long-term driving force is the same macro factors driving traditional hard assets.

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Bitcoin ETF Flows, Miner Stocks and Derivatives: What’s Driving BTC’s Sell-Off?

Spot BTC ETF flows contributed the biggest selling pressure. On Nov. 5, U.S. funds suffered significant net outflows, estimated at between $325 million and $430 million. One of the heavier redeemers was Fidelity’s FBTC. This came after a series of net outflows over several sessions earlier in the week and a relatively small $74.6 million inflow on Nov. 4.

Meanwhile, publicly listed BTC miners and related stocks contributed to the downturn. Big-cap stocks like MARA and Riot fell by mid-teens percentages on Nov. 5, with a few companies with increasingly large AI data-center exposure dropping 15–20%. Crypto-related stocks such as Strategy and Coinbase also fell by over 10%.

In addition, derivatives positioning also contributed to the trend, with over $1 billion worth of crypto derivatives liquidated in the past 24 hours, the majority of which were long bets. The forced selling from the liquidation cascade helped to accelerate the collapse once prices fell below major levels.

Beyond the Nasdaq Crash: Crypto-Specific Catalysts and What’s Next for Bitcoin?

High correlation does not necessarily mean causation. Shared risk appetite, institutional flows, and margin pressures are all contributing factors to why Bitcoin tends to move hand-in-hand with the Nasdaq during market sell-offs. But the recent drop has also been driven by crypto-specific factors. 

Forced liquidations occurred due to the rise in leverage, while the lack of institutional demand continued with spot Bitcoin ETF outflows. Bitcoin miners also faced additional pressure from falling BTC prices and concerns over AI infrastructure investments.

Meanwhile, a mix of competing catalysts had briefly supported BTC price above $80,000, including any short-covering that occurred in the near-term after the midterm election and the inevitable cascade of liquidations in a leveraged market.

Therefore, gold has been relatively strong in comparison, underscoring the relative lack of safe-haven appeal of Bitcoin during the sell-off. Moving ahead, investors should closely monitor ETF trading, derivatives positioning, and whether BTC can defend recent lows without additional contagion from the equity markets. Correlations will remain regime-dependent and can change quickly.

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Related: Bitcoin Price Analysis: Aggressive Weekly Breakdown Targets $57,800 Liquidity

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