Things to know: Crypto assets fell earlier this week, with bitcoin dropping back to $86,800 and ethereum retreating to $3,000. The price action continues to show a clear pattern: cryptocurrencies perform much worse during U.S. trading hours than at other times. Crypto stocks also took a hit, with Strategy and Circle both down 7% on the day. Coinbase fell more than 5%, while crypto miners CLSK, HUT, and WULF plunged more than 10%.
Major cryptocurrencies fell during early U.S. trading on Monday, continuing to show a clear pattern of underperformance during U.S. stock trading hours.
Bitcoin remained steady below $90,000 during overnight trading, then plunged to $86,800 during early U.S. trading BTC$89,629.86.
“Since the iShares bitcoin ETF IBIT began trading, if you only held after hours (buy at close, sell at next open), returns have reached 222%,” Bespoke Investment noted. “If you only held during the day (buy at open, sell at close), you would be down 40.5%.”
Crypto stocks also fell significantly earlier this week, with Strategy (MSTR) and Circle (CRCL) both down about 7%. Coinbase (COIN) dropped more than 5%, while trading platforms Robinhood (HOOD) and eToro (ETOR) had smaller declines of about 2%. Brokerage Gemini (GEMI), which surged over the weekend after receiving approval to add prediction markets, fell back 10% on Monday.
Crypto miners, many of which are closely tied to the data center infrastructure theme that was hit last week due to AI-related tensions, continued their downward trajectory. CleanSpark (CLSK), Cipher Mining (CIFR), Hut 8 (HUT), and TeraWulf (WULF) all recorded declines of more than 10%.
Macroeconomic News
As the U.S. government continues to accelerate after a prolonged shutdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the October and November jobs reports this week. These data will be closely watched to help determine whether the Federal Reserve will continue to cut interest rates in early 2026.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate for the first time in nearly a year.
The Bank of England and the European Central Bank will also hold meetings later this week to discuss monetary policy.
