“Nasdaq Suffers Its Steepest Fall in Decades, But Bitcoin Keeps Its Footing.”

Bitcoin Holds Ground as Nasdaq Sees Worst Drop in Years Amid Tariff Turmoil

Despite a dramatic downturn in U.S. equities, bitcoin showed resilience, holding above key support levels as markets absorbed the shock of sweeping new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 5.5%, marking one of its worst single-day declines since the dot-com era, as per Investing.com. This drop narrowly missed ranking among the top 20 worst sessions since 2000. The S&P 500 followed suit, losing nearly 5%.

In a surprising move, bitcoin (BTC) decoupled from equities, recovering 0.7% on Thursday after an initial post-announcement dip and continuing to rise into Friday. BTC is now trading above $84,000, showing notable strength despite lingering macro uncertainty. Before the tariff announcement, it traded near $87,000.

While equities made fresh lows — the Nasdaq hitting its 2025 bottom on Thursday — bitcoin continues to trade well above its March low of $76,000. On a year-to-date basis, BTC is slightly outperforming, down just 10% versus the Nasdaq’s 11% decline.

According to Glassnode, this divergence may highlight shifting sentiment among investors.

Analyst Caleb Franzen underscored bitcoin’s momentum relative to traditional assets. “BTC has held its own against the S&P 500, and the BTC/SPY pair remains above its 200-day moving average cloud,” he said via X. “Seeing bitcoin outperform in a risk-off setting is noteworthy.”

As Nasdaq futures remain subdued ahead of the U.S. jobs report, bitcoin’s steady hand could reflect growing confidence in its role as a macro hedge — or at least as an asset less tethered to traditional market shocks.