Bitcoin ($BTC) reached new multimonth lows after Wall Street opened on Thursday, as selling pressure returned to the US stock market.
Key points:
- Bitcoin fell 3.5% on Thursday as markets reacted to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s resignation.
- Nvidia stock fell to a low of $148.80 before recovering to around $160, down 7.2% on the day at the time of writing.
- Friday’s US Producer Price Index (PPI) data is seen as the next key volatility event for $BTC price analysis.
Nvidia names interim CEO as stock plunges
TradingView data showed $BTC/USD falling below $72,000 for the first time since Aug. 20, with month-to-date losses reaching 7.4%.
$BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Turmoil at Nvidia after CEO Jensen Huang’s immediate resignation dragged stock markets lower, with NVDA falling nearly 13% at the Wall Street open.
“Colette Kress, current Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NVIDIA, has agreed to serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer. Kress will continue to serve as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer while serving as Interim Chief Executive Officer until a permanent successor has been named,” the company said in a press release.
“The Board is initiating a search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer and will consider internal and external candidates.”
Nvidia stock one-week chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Economist Mohamed El-Erian called Huang’s resignation a “significant development” with implications beyond Nvidia itself.
“The situation will remain in the spotlight, not only as the company navigates the loss of its highly-influential founder, but also as various political investigations (formal and informal) unfold,” he wrote in an analysis.
Despite the selling pressure on Nvidia shares, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index avoided major losses at the open, trading 0.6% lower at the time of writing.
Nasdaq Composite Index one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Analyst watches PPI release for $BTC price signals
$BTC/USD fell below its 21-week simple moving average (SMA), which stood at $73,078 on Wednesday.
$BTC/USD one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Looking beyond Nvidia for near-term macro volatility catalysts, Keith Alan, cofounder of crypto trading platform Material Indicators, pointed to Friday’s US Producer Price Index (PPI) release.
Tuesday’s October Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading came in above expectations, leading markets to price in more Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes.
“Fundamentally, a cool PPI report that lowers the odds of aggressive rate hikes in December/January could easily flip this script bullish,” Alan wrote on X. He added that if the PPI matches market expectations, the spot price could move between nearby areas of exchange order-book liquidity.
The latest CoinGlass data showed $BTC/USD moving through a patch of bid liquidity as 24-hour crypto liquidations reached $730 million.
$BTC liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlass
