Early morning, a full-scale crash! Over 220,000 people liquidated! Gold, silver, US stocks, massive turbulence

Overnight global markets experienced a major upheaval.

The cryptocurrency market plummeted across the board, with Bitcoin dropping over 5%, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and others falling more than 6%. According to CoinGlass data, in the past 24 hours, a total of 227,939 traders were liquidated worldwide. Some analysts point out that market funds are rapidly withdrawing from the crypto space, with some crypto companies planning to allocate 10% to 15% of their investment portfolios into physical gold.

Meanwhile, the precious metals market also saw intense volatility. Gold and silver, after reaching record highs, both experienced sharp declines, with intraday drops exceeding 5% and 8%, respectively, before the declines quickly narrowed. Additionally, metals on the London Metal Exchange surged and then retreated, with copper’s gains narrowing to 3.05% from an earlier 11%, and tin falling 1.35% after rising over 5%.

The US stock market also faced a tense moment, with the Nasdaq plunging as much as 2.6 intraday, before closing with a decline of 0.72%.

Full Market Crash

On the early morning of January 30, Beijing time, the crypto market faced a massive sell-off. By 06:30, Bitcoin had dropped over 5%, falling below the $85,000 mark to $84,425 per coin; Ethereum, SOL, and Dogecoin each fell more than 6%, Cardano nearly 7%, FIL over 7%, and XRP close to 6%.

According to CoinGlass data, in the past 24 hours, a total of 227,939 traders worldwide were liquidated, with total liquidation amount reaching $1.014 billion (approximately RMB 7.05 billion).

As a result, US stocks with crypto exposure also saw a broad decline. By the close, Strategy stocks plunged over 9%, Bitfarms fell more than 5%, Coinbase Global and MARA Holdings dropped over 4%, Riot Platforms declined over 3%, and Bit Digital fell over 2%.

In the news, earlier in the day, Tether’s CEO announced plans to allocate 10% to 15% of its portfolio into physical gold. The world’s largest gold ETF, SPDR Gold Trust, increased its holdings to near four-year highs.

On the geopolitical front, uncertainty further intensified. On Wednesday, there were reports that U.S. President Trump was “considering launching a new major strike on Iran.”

In response, Iran’s First Vice President, Araghchi, stated that the current government has maintained a state of readiness since taking office. Iran will not initiate war, but if war is provoked, it will defend itself with a firm stance, and “the outcome of the war will not be decided by the enemy.”

Some analysts note that cryptocurrencies are less of a safe haven compared to gold and are less attractive than AI in terms of risk. Currently, market attraction for funds is waning. Bitcoin’s price is stagnant, trading volume is sluggish, and long-term believers are shifting toward precious metals and stocks.

CryptoQuant’s on-chain data shows that Bitcoin holders have entered a phase of realized losses, the first since 2023. Even if spot prices do not collapse, more investors are cutting losses and exiting, indicating waning confidence.

According to Bloomberg data, over $1.3 billion has been withdrawn from Bitcoin-related funds in the past week, continuing the trend of crypto ETF withdrawals.

Recently, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have significantly lagged behind gold and silver in price movements, raising doubts about Bitcoin’s role as a macro hedge. Despite escalating global tensions, assets like Bitcoin, often called digital gold, remain stagnant.

Duke University professor Cam Harvey previously stated that Bitcoin is unlikely to replace gold as the preferred safe-haven asset for investors.

Analysts from Citigroup and Tagus Capital also pointed out that Bitcoin’s inflation-hedging function is at best sporadic, mainly influenced by liquidity, risk appetite, and tech stock flows, rather than a lasting connection to dollar weakness or geopolitical pressures.

Gold, Silver, and US Stocks Shake the Market

Meanwhile, overnight, the US stock and precious metals markets also experienced epic turbulence.

On January 29, during New York trading hours, precious metals prices rapidly plunged. Spot gold briefly fell over $400, then recovered nearly half of the decline.

Spot gold prices briefly surged to the $5600 per ounce level but started to plunge at 23:00 Beijing time, falling from around $5530 to $5105.83 per ounce, with a maximum intraday decline of 5.7%. It then rebounded sharply, ending the day down 0.69% at $5377.4 per ounce.

At the same time, spot silver also fell from its all-time high of $121.67 per ounce to $106.80, with a maximum intraday drop of 8.5%, then quickly rebounded, closing down 0.64% at $115.87 per ounce.

Some analysts believe that the short-term plunge in gold and silver prices was driven by investors taking profits after prices repeatedly hit new highs.

David Meger, head of metals trading at High Ridge Futures, said, “After recent record highs, we saw a wave of intense selling in precious metals.”

The US stock market also saw a dramatic scene overnight, with the Nasdaq plunging as much as 2.6%, and the S&P 500 dropping 1.5% at one point before narrowing losses. By the close, the S&P 500 fell 0.13%, the Nasdaq declined 0.72%, and the Dow rose 0.11%.

Microsoft briefly plunged over 12% during the session, closing down 9.99%. The previous day, Microsoft’s earnings report showed cloud business growth slowing from 40% to 39%; gross margin was about 68%, the lowest in three years.

Microsoft’s sharp decline hit the software sector hard. ServiceNow, which beat earnings and revenue expectations, fell 9.94%; Salesforce dropped 6.09%; Oracle declined 2.19%; and German software giant SAP plummeted 15.2%.

Rob Williams, chief investment strategist at Sage Advisory, said that the market is raising more questions about AI, which is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain positive news. Unless tech giants report “explosive” earnings, it will be harder to boost market sentiment.

Meanwhile, Meta, which also announced earnings, rose 10.4%, stating it expects capital expenditures to reach as high as $135 billion by 2026, nearly double last year’s level.

Other major tech stocks showed mixed performance: Nvidia rose 0.52%, marking three consecutive days of gains; Google gained 0.71%, reaching a new high; Apple increased 0.72%; Amazon fell 0.53%; Broadcom declined 0.75%; and Tesla plunged 3.23%.

After Thursday’s close, Apple announced quarterly revenue exceeding expectations, with the stock briefly soaring over 3%, then settling at a 0.7% gain.

The earnings report showed that Apple’s first fiscal quarter revenue was $143.76 billion, up 16% year-over-year, beating the market estimate of $138.4 billion; earnings per share were $2.84, also above the expected $2.68.