Slides in the US stock market, prompted by President Donald Trump’s global tariff announcement on Wednesday, sent the NASDAQ Composite Index to one of the biggest funks since the beginning of the century.
According to Investing.com, the Tech Heavy Index lost 5.5% on Thursday, just outside the worst day’s drawdown since 2000. Most of the biggest drawdowns occurred during the 2000-2001 dot-com crash and the 2008 global financial crisis. Other stock measures also suffer, with the S&P 500 index down almost 5%.
In contrast, the price of Bitcoin (BTC), which typically correlates with US stocks over a short time frame, is against this trend. The biggest cryptocurrency that fell shortly after the announcement while the stock market was shut down, gained momentum on Friday, gaining momentum the following day, rising 0.7%.
Bitcoin is now over $84,000 compared to about $87,000 before Trump began speaking. Meanwhile, NASDAQ futures are ahead of the US employment report scheduled for the second half of the day.
Bitcoin went low in mid-March at around $76,000 in 2025, while the Nasdaq went low on Thursday. Since the beginning of the year, Bitcoin has outperformed the Nasdaq, losing 10% against the 11% of the index.
Analyst Caleb Franzen highlights the relative strength of Bitcoin compared to the S&P 500 in this risk-off environment, focusing on restoring the 200-day moving average.
“It’s very noteworthy to see Bitcoin gaining +3.4% today compared to the S&P 500, especially in a risk-off environment. As I recently pointed out, BTC/SPY continues to surpass the 200-day moving average cloud,” Franzen said in a post on X.
