Bitcoin (BTC) held above $75,000 on Friday as a sell-off in US technology stocks spread to Asian markets.
Key points:
Bitcoin steadied after falling as much as 6.6% on Thursday to $75,109 on Bitstamp.
South Korea’s KOSPI triggered a trading halt after falling more than 8% shortly after Friday’s open. The government announced a three-month waiver of margin-loan collateral requirements for brokerages from Monday.
Analysis cited fears of tighter US regulation of AI following Democrats’ election gains. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 12.2% on Thursday.
South Korea eases collateral rules as KOSPI falls 6%
Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD trading near its 50-week simple moving average (SMA), at $75,733.
BTC/USD one-day chart with 50-week SMA. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
The pair fell as much as 6.6% on Thursday as US stock markets saw sustained selling throughout the Wall Street trading session. The S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed down 4.4% and 5.5%, respectively.
Nasdaq Composite Index one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
On Friday, Asian stocks extended the sell-off. South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index fell more than 8% shortly after the open, triggering a circuit breaker that halted trading for 20 minutes. The index then pared losses to close 6% lower at 5,059.69 points, its lowest close since March 31.
KOSPI one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
At an emergency meeting, Korea’s deputy prime minister and finance minister Lee Hyoung-il announced measures to reduce forced selling.
Brokerages will be exempt from a requirement to maintain a 140% collateral ratio on margin loans for three months from Monday, local media reported. Authorities said they would prepare futher measures if volatility increased.
“We recognize with gravity the expanding volatility in global stock markets following the U.S. midterm elections,” Chosun quoted an unnamed government source as saying.
“However, the domestic market has been overly reactive to external factors.”
Analysis call US stocks rout “more technical than fundamental”
Analysts linked Thursday’s Wall Street losses to fears of tighter AI regulation after Democrats won the House and Senate. Those fears compounded existing market concerns about the sector’s capital spending.
Related: Bitcoin, Ether ETFs post $530M outflows as election gains evaporate
Citing an X post by Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari, who called for a “pause on advanced AI development,” market commentary service The Kobeissi Letter said an outright US ban on AI was unlikely.
“In our view, a ban of AI will not happen in the US (with near-certainty). Such a ban, if even possible to enforce, would mean the US surrendering its position in the global AI race to China. That won’t happen,” it wrote in an X post.
“We believe today’s decline was more technical than fundamental.”
Kobeissi noted that Thursday’s losses were concentrated in tech, with the S&P 500 declining just about 2.5% excluding the sector. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which tracks 30 semiconductor companies, finished Thursday 12.2% lower.
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Economist Mohamed El-Erian also called for common ground on AI policy.said that lawmakers would need to find common ground on AI policy.
“America’s ‘let it rip’ approach to AI aligns with the technology’s productivity potential and national security imperatives. However, it has fallen short not only on safety and diffusion, but also on bringing society along,” he wrote in a Substack note.
El-Erian said the backlash reflected “genuine concerns,” information failures and behavioral factors.
