Crypto markets retreat as tech shares and gold pull back, pushing the bitcoin–Nasdaq correlation back into positive territory.

Bitcoin drifted lower to around $68,000 on Tuesday as a tech-led risk-off move weighed on digital assets and gold extended its recent correction. Losses were more pronounced across speculative corners of the market, with memecoins leading the altcoin downturn while bitcoin dominance stayed rangebound.

The broader crypto market mirrored weakness in U.S. equities, particularly in technology shares. Bitcoin fell 1.25% since midnight UTC. Over the same period, Nasdaq futures declined 0.55%, and gold slid 2.4%, continuing its pullback from recent highs.

High-beta tokens saw steeper losses. Memecoins such as Pepe (PEPE), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Official Trump (TRUMP) dropped between 3.5% and 4.5%, underperforming majors as risk appetite faded.

The selloff in technology stocks has been fueled by growing unease over artificial intelligence and its potential to disrupt established industries. Since early February, bitcoin’s correlation with the Nasdaq has shifted decisively higher. The rolling correlation coefficient has climbed from -0.68 to +0.72 over the past two weeks, indicating that bitcoin is once again trading in lockstep with tech equities.

Gold changed hands near $4,928 after failing to maintain support above $5,000. The metal had surged to a record $5,600 on Jan. 28 before suffering a sharp 21.5% correction in the days that followed.

Derivatives positioning

Futures data point to continued caution among traders:

• Aggregate crypto futures open interest fell 1.5% in 24 hours to $93 billion, marking new multi-month lows and signaling capital outflows.
• Exchanges liquidated $229 million in leveraged positions over the past day, with bullish long bets accounting for the majority of forced closures.
• DOGE futures open interest declined 4%, leading weakness among major tokens, while PEPE, LINK and AVAX recorded 3% to 5% drops.
• Open interest in HYPE futures cooled to 44.45 million tokens — the lowest level since early December — suggesting profit-taking after recent outperformance versus bitcoin and other large-cap assets.
• Implied volatility for bitcoin and ether has retreated sharply from monthly highs, showing that acute market panic has eased.
• On Deribit, put options on bitcoin and ether continue to trade at a premium to calls, reflecting ongoing downside hedging, though positioning is less defensive than it was two weeks ago.

Token performance

Altcoins continue to move largely in line with bitcoin, with the bitcoin dominance ratio fluctuating between 57.4% and 60.1% since September, underscoring BTC’s steady share of overall market value.

Some tokens have bucked the broader softness. AI-linked MORPHO has rallied 23.5% over the past week, while privacy-focused Zcash (ZEC) gained 19% in the same period.

In contrast, layer-1 token LayerZero (ZRO) has shed 16% over the past week, continuing to lose momentum despite announcing a collaboration with Citadel Securities and Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation.

On intraday time frames, weakness persists. Tokens including HYPE, SUI and ASTER have fallen between 3% and 4.8% since midnight UTC, as the crypto market awaits a catalyst to shift sentiment back toward risk-taking.