Nvidia, Bitcoin just reminded investors of a market fundamental

Bitcoin and Nvidia Corp. just reminded investors that the market’s hottest trades are far from one-way bets.

The largest digital asset posted one of its steepest drops on Monday since the onset of the crypto-market recovery at the start of last year, leaving investors pining for $60,000 as a technical floor for the token to avert more pain.

Meanwhile Nvidia — the poster child of the artificial intelligence revolution — slid nearly 7% and has shed about $430 billion over the last three sessions. That’s the biggest three-day value loss for any company in history.

Over longer periods both assets are still sitting on breathtaking returns. But the turbulence resurfaces the question of whether cracks in zeitgeist momentum trades point to a tougher outlook for risk appetite as the prospect of higher-for-longer interest rates hangs over markets.

“People are working out now that momentum works both ways,” said Chris Weston, head of research for Pepperstone Group. Bitcoin needs “sentiment to fuel the beast” and Nvidia is “an incredibly saturated long position,” he added.

Bitcoin stabilized on Tuesday, rising roughly 3% to retake $61,000. Asian stocks and futures on the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 index both pushed higher. The moves suggest broader investor sentiment remains resilient, buttressed by gains for the likes of global stocks, gold and crypto over the past year. 

Carol Schleif, deputy chief investment officer at BMO Family Office LLC, pointed out on Bloomberg Radio that an equal-weighted version of the S&P 500 climbed Monday as bellwether Nvidia struggled. The equal-weighted gauge strips out size biases and dilutes the influence of megacap tech.

“You need a broadening market for this to have sustainability,” she said. “We think the fundamentals can carry through more industries than just technology.”