Bitcoin BTC$88,336.23 tumbled Thursday to its weakest level since mid-December, shedding nearly $3,000 within hours as gold's massive rally abruptly turned.

Soaring above $5,600 per ounce at one point Thursday (gold prior to Sunday night had never been above $5,000), gold in the space of a few minutes in morning U.S. trade plunged nearly 10% to back below $5,200.

The price action in silver followed a similar path, with that metal falling from $121 per ounce to $108.

Adding fuel to the selloff was Microsoft (MSFT), whose shares collapsed more than 11% — potentially their worst day since March 2020 — after the company reported slowing growth in its cloud business. The tech giant’s stumble dragged the Nasdaq lower by around 1.5%, deepening the risk-off tone.

Crypto markets followed suit. Trading above $88,000 earlier in the session, bitcoin fell precipitously to $85,200, its lowest level in more than a month. The largest crypto was down 4.5% over the past 24 hours.

Ethereum's ether ETH$2,961.90, Solana SOL$123.64, DOGE$0.1222 and ADA$0.3510 lost 5%-6% during the same period as altcoins were hit harder in the sell-off.
Looking at crypto stocks, the largest corporate bitcoin holder Strategy (MSTR) is down 8%, its worst day since Dec. 12, hitting 52-week lows and trading back at September 2024 levels.

Other names posting big losses include Bullish (BLSH), Twenty One Capital (XXI). Circle (CRCL) and Coinbase (COIN) — all down 4%-8%.