Bitcoin (BTC) hit new multi-month lows after Wall Street opened on Thursday as selling pressure returned to the US stock market.
Key points:
- Bitcoin price losses totaled 3.5% on Thursday as markets reacted to the resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
- Nvidia shares fell as low as $148.80 before rising back to around $160, down 7.2% on the day at the time of writing.
- BTC price analysis expects Friday’s US Producer Price Index (PPI) data to be the next major volatility event.
Nvidia names interim CEO as stock prices plunge
Data from TradingView showed that BTC/USD fell below $72,000 for the first time since August 20 as month-to-date losses reached 7.4%.
BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
The turmoil at Nvidia following the immediate resignation of CEO Jensen Huang dragged equity markets lower, with the NVDA falling nearly 13% at the open on Wall Street.
“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 concurrently serving as Interim Chief Executive Officer until a permanent successor is named,” the company said in a statement Press release.
“The board is initiating the search for a permanent chief executive officer and will consider internal and external candidates.”
One-week chart of Nvidia stock. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Economist Mohamed El-Erian called Huang’s resignation a “significant development” that would have implications beyond Nvidia.
“The situation will remain in the spotlight, not only as the company copes with the loss of its influential founder, but also as various political investigations (official and informal) are ongoing,” he said wrote in an analysis.
Despite selling pressure on Nvidia shares, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index avoided major losses at the open and was trading 0.6% lower at the time of writing.
One-day chart of the Nasdaq Composite Index. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
The analyst is hoping for the PPI release to provide clues about the BTC price
BTC/USD fell back below its 21-week simple moving average (SMA), which stood at $73,078 on Wednesday.
BTC/USD one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Keith Alan, co-founder of crypto trading platform Material Indicators, assesses short-term macro volatility catalysts beyond Nvidia. highlighted US Producer Price Index (PPI) release on Friday.
On Tuesday, the October reading of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in above expectations, dragging down markets Price for further interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve.
“Basically, a cool PPI report that reduces the likelihood of aggressive interest rate hikes in December/January could easily tip this scenario into the positive,” Alan wrote
The latest data from CoinGlass showed that BTC/USD broke through some of the bid liquidity as 24-hour crypto liquidations reached $730 million.
Heatmap of BTC liquidation. Source: CoinGlass
