MW Bitcoin rallies with stocks to top $100,000 again as exuberance returns to markets

By Frances Yue

Bitcoin retakes psychologically important level as stocks extend rebound off April lows

Bitcoin on Thursday traded back above the $100,000 level for the first time since February, a move that analysts said reflected broader demand for risky assets of all stripes as stocks extended a rebound off their April lows.

"Bitcoin's break back above the six-figure threshold comes amid a broader risk-on revival in global markets," said Thomas Perfumo, global economist at crypto exchange Kraken.

"Equities are again performing well and investors appear more comfortable allocating to risk assets. These renewed animal spirits are spilling straight into crypto," Perfumo told MarketWatch in emailed comments.

Bitcoin (BTCUSD) hit an all-time high at $109,225 on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump's inauguration day, as investors expected a more friendly regulatory environment for digital assets. However, the cryptocurrency then tumbled as Trump's tariff policies triggered a rout across risk markets, briefly falling below $80,000 in early April.

Still, both stocks and bitcoin rose on Thursday, after Trump said his administration reached a preliminary deal with the U.K. on trade.

"Investors are finally seeing the light at the end of the Trump trade tunnel and are now ready to focus on the growth aspects of the Trump policy mix," José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers said.

Bitcoin rose 5% to as high as $101,515 and was trading at around $101,094 on Thursday afternoon. U.S. stocks also traded higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA up 1.3%.

While bitcoin showed resilience over U.S. stocks amid the recent market turbulence, it was still trading mostly as a risk asset, according to Leah Wald, chief executive at SOL Strategies, a company that holds bitcoin and Solana (SOLUSD) on its balance sheet.

Read: 'Too early' to call bitcoin a safe haven as it outperforms stocks and dollar amid tariff turmoil

"While there have certainly been moments this year where bitcoin has shown relative strength compared to equities, especially during periods of macro uncertainty, it's premature to say we've fully decoupled. Bitcoin still behaves, structurally, like a high-beta risk asset: It tends to outperform during bullish sentiment and underperform when markets de-risk," Wald said in emailed comments to MarketWatch. A high-beta risk asset refers to those that are more volatile than the overall market.

Also powering bitcoin's rally was news that Arizona and New Hampshire governors earlier this week signed bills into law to establish bitcoin reserves in those states. While the states have not made any purchases of bitcoin, the news has fueled investors' optimism, according to Alexander Blume, chief executive at crypto-investment advisor Two Prime.

The key resistance bands facing bitcoin lie in the $106,500 and $101,500 areas, according to Tyler Richey, technical analyst and co-editor at the Sevens Report. If bitcoin ends Thursday near its current level above $101,000, the crypto would be "well-positioned" for a test of its all-time high at $109,225, Richey told MarketWatch in emailed comments.

However, if bitcoin falls below its near-term support level at $93,780, it may face a pullpack toward $80,000, Richey said.

Still, the technical setup for bitcoin is less encouraging from a weekly timeframe with the relative strength index, a momentum indicator, standing above 50.

While the index is still positive, it is much lower than its recent peak in December, when the momentum reading hit a high at a bit below 80 and later powered bitcoin's January rally, Richey noted.

-Frances Yue

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May 08, 2025 16:02 ET (20:02 GMT)

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