Financial markets experienced a broad-based sell-off. In the early hours of February 6, Beijing time, the cryptocurrency market suffered a severe crash. By 06:30 Beijing time, Bitcoin had plummeted over 12% for the day, while Ethereum fell more than 13%. Data from CoinGlass showed that over 430,000 traders were liquidated across the cryptocurrency market in the past 24 hours. Simultaneously, U.S. stock and precious metals markets also faced significant declines. Spot silver plunged over 20% at one point, and spot gold dropped more than 4%. All three major U.S. stock indices closed down over 1%, with the Nasdaq Composite experiencing its worst three-day sell-off since last April. Analysts pointed to concerns triggered by the AI impact wave and weak U.S. employment data as factors spreading the sell-off across markets. Additionally, international oil prices fell sharply. WTI crude futures closed down 2.84% at $63.29 per barrel, while Brent crude futures ended 2.75% lower at $67.55. The cryptocurrency market experienced a crash-like decline. During Thursday's U.S. trading session, the cryptocurrency market collapsed across the board. Bitcoin accelerated its decline to around $63,000. By 06:30 Beijing time, its intraday loss widened to 12.81%, trading at $63,860.8 per coin. Ethereum fell 13.1%, XRP plunged over 22%, SOL and Dogecoin dropped over 14%, and BNB fell more than 12%. Since peaking last October, Bitcoin's price has cumulatively crashed over 48% and is now hovering near levels seen in October 2024. Its total market capitalization has also shrunk significantly, falling from a peak of $2.48 trillion to $1.27 trillion. CoinGlass data indicated that over 430,000 traders were liquidated in the crypto market in the last 24 hours, with total liquidations reaching $2.069 billion. Wenny Cai, Chief Operating Officer at trading platform SynFutures, noted the massive scale of liquidations, stating that market sentiment has turned risk-averse, with price action now driven more by balance sheet mechanisms than narrative logic. Analysis suggests that behind this round of sharp declines is the near-simultaneous collapse of Bitcoin's upward momentum, market narrative, and its label as a "safe-haven asset." Ilan Solot, Senior Global Market Strategist at Marex Solutions, said, "This largely reflects the current bearish market sentiment. Bitcoin's recent failure to act as a safe-haven asset is also a contributing factor." According to Bloomberg compiled data, after recording approximately $562 million in net inflows on Monday, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw over $800 million flow out over the next two trading days. A CryptoQuant report on Wednesday noted that U.S. ETFs, which bought 46,000 Bitcoins during the same period last year, have turned into net sellers in 2026. Shiliang Tang, Managing Partner at Monarq Asset Management, stated that the cryptocurrency market is experiencing a "crisis of confidence." The $70,000 level was seen as a critical psychological barrier, especially given the current administration's promises to strengthen U.S. leadership in digital assets. Consequently, some market observers suggest that breaching the $70,000 level could trigger larger-scale selling in the short term. Currently, contracts on the prediction platform Polymarket indicate an 82% probability that Bitcoin will fall below $65,000 within the year. Some traders are betting on even worse outcomes, with the probability of Bitcoin dropping below $55,000 rising to around 60%. U.S. stocks also experienced a broad sell-off. Overnight, U.S. stocks and precious metals markets faced intense selling pressure. The three major U.S. stock indices opened lower and continued declining, closing with the Nasdaq down 1.59%, marking its worst three-day sell-off since last April; the S&P 500 fell 1.23%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.2%. Most major tech stocks declined. Amazon and Microsoft fell over 4%, Tesla dropped more than 2%, Nvidia declined over 1%, while Apple and Google saw slight losses. TSMC's ADR bucked the trend, rising over 1%, while Meta and Broadcom posted modest gains. U.S. software stocks were hit hard again. FactSet Research Systems Inc. shares plunged over 10% at one point, and Thomson Reuters fell more than 5%, hitting its lowest intraday level since March 2020. Shares of S&P Global Inc., Moody's Corp., and Nasdaq Inc. also declined noticeably. Regarding news, Anthropic, the U.S. AI company that triggered this week's major software stock sell-off, launched Claude Opus 4.6 on Thursday, an AI model specialized in financial research. It can rapidly analyze company data, regulatory filings, and market information, with significant upgrades in programming and multi-task execution. Furthermore, weak employment data dampened bullish sentiment. According to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January, the highest total for January since the global financial crisis. Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, commented, "It is notable that these layoffs are occurring while GDP is still growing at about 4%, accelerating the decoupling of employment from economic growth—if this persists, it will have profound economic, political, and social implications." Simultaneously, data from the U.S. Labor Department showed that initial jobless claims for the week ending January 31 rose more than expected. Additionally, job openings in December 2025 fell to their lowest level since September 2020. The precious metals market was also severely impacted. Spot silver plummeted over 19%, and spot gold fell more than 3%, as both commodities continued searching for a price bottom following historic sell-offs last Friday. After the new round of sharp declines, the CME Group intervened again, announcing adjustments to margin requirements for certain futures contracts, including gold, silver, and aluminum. Documentation showed the new margin rate for gold was raised to 9%, and for silver to 18%. The new standards will take effect after the close of trading on February 6, local time.