Bitcoin plunges below $66,000 as global stocks, AI trades hit fresh records

The crypto sell-off is worsening as stock markets continue to inch higher every day.

Bitcoin plunged to a low of $65,708 in Asian morning trading on Wednesday, down 6.4% in 24 hours and 12.3% on the week, as a broad crypto market sell-off accelerated overnight against the sharpest possible backdrop of global equity strength.

Ether (ETH) broke below $1,900 to $1,839, marking a 7.9% drop in 24 hours and lifting the second-largest cryptocurrency's weekly decline to 11.1%. Solana's SOL fell 9.0% to $73.25, BNB lost 7.8% to $636, slid 8.3% to $0.0921 and Tron's TRX shed 3.4% to $0.3297, per CoinDesk data.

$BTC traded near $66,280 by Wednesday morning after touching the $65,708 24-hour low, with the range stretching $5,200 from the $70,907 high.

Global stocks set fresh all-time highs as the AI trade intensified, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rallying almost 6% to a record on Tuesday and Tokyo Electron and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing both reaching new peaks, Bloomberg reported.

The MSCI All Country World Index set a fresh all-time high on the AI rally that has dominated stocks all year.

SpaceX was reported to be seeking $135 a share for a $75 billion initial public offering, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures held little changed near record levels. South Korean markets were closed for a holiday.

The crypto sell-off compounds a week of bearish news, starting with Strategy's (MSTR) first publicized bitcoin sale on Monday, an ongoing record spot bitcoin ETF outflow streak through Tuesday that has crossed $3.2 billion, Mt. Gox's $739 million transfer to a new wallet on Tuesday, and stalled U.S.-Iran ceasefire negotiations that have kept Brent crude rising for a third straight day on fresh Middle East fighting.

Hyperliquid's HYPE remained the lone green outlier in the top 10 by market value, holding a 19.9% weekly gain at $71.98 despite a 3.1% decline in the past 24 hours.

$BTC's $65,000 level is the immediate technical anchor. A break below brings $60,000 into focus, while a hold opens the door to a relief bounce as overleveraged positioning gets flushed.