Bitcoin hovers around $71,200 after hitting a fresh low while 10-year yield stays above 5%

Bitcoin was trading close to $71,200 on Thursday evening, having dipped to a fresh session low near $71,000, based on data from Bitcoin Magazine Pro. U.S. equities ended the day slightly lower, while the 10-year Treasury yield remained above 5% following news that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had resigned.

The downturn began in the morning session. Bitcoin slid under $72,000 before the market open and fell to roughly $71,150 shortly after 10 a.m. Eastern. A recovery attempt later faded, and bitcoin reached a new session low around $71,000 at approximately 6:23 p.m., its weakest point since Aug. 20. The cryptocurrency now stands about $30,400 below where it closed one year ago.

Stocks close lower as yields keep pressure on the bitcoin price

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.39% to 25,366.09, the S&P 500 fell 0.35% to 7,592.40 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.36% to 52,297.09, according to Reuters. Nvidia shares ended 4.3% lower at $166.19, off their session lows, after the company announced that Huang had stepped down as president, CEO and board member with immediate effect, and that CFO Colette Kress would serve as interim CEO.

Bitcoin-related stocks experienced a tougher day. Strategy (MSTR), which MSCI is removing from its USA Index at the Nov. 30 close, ended at $114.41, a drop of 6.5%. Shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which had lost $2 billion over nine consecutive days of outflows through Wednesday, closed at $40.36, down 4.5%.

Much of the afternoon's activity came from the bond market. The 10-year Treasury yield rose roughly 12 basis points to 5.105% and touched 5.12%, its highest since Oct. 21, after President Donald Trump said the United States does not need a deal with Iran, Reuters reported. The two-year yield, which closely tracks Federal Reserve expectations, climbed about 14 basis points to 4.867%. Brent crude settled at $95.82 a barrel, up 3.3%, following an escalation of attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure.

Fed hike bets, a $404 billion deficit and a busy evening of crypto news

Higher yields reflect a market that still anticipates another Fed tightening next month. Fed funds futures are pricing in 29 basis points of rate increases in December, with a quarter-point move as the base case and only slim odds of a half-point step, per Reuters. Rising rates raise the cost of holding an asset that pays no interest, a factor that has pressured bitcoin all week.

The Treasury delivered a fiscal reminder after the close. The government posted a $404 billion deficit in October, the first month of fiscal 2027, the Treasury Department said, up 42% from $284 billion a year earlier, as receipts fell to $369 billion and outlays rose to $773 billion. Some benefit payments that would normally have been made on Nov. 1, a Sunday, were shifted into October.

The evening also brought a flurry of crypto headlines. The Justice Department said it has court authority to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion of cryptocurrency stolen from Binance in October’s North Korea-linked heist, part of a freeze that officials said halted about half the breach. Binance, in a separate announcement, said it has fully covered the $6.34 billion in user losses with company funds. Jane Street’s quarterly 13F showed it had increased its Strategy stake by 54% as of Sept. 30, though large options positions suggest hedging rather than a straight bet. After the close, Gemini reported third-quarter revenue of $40.9 million, down 19%, as platform trading volume fell 73%; its net loss narrowed 63% to $58.6 million.

Those announcements did not push bitcoin off its session lows. Friday’s Producer Price Index is the next inflation test, and Nvidia is still scheduled to report quarterly results on Nov. 17 under its interim leadership.

At the time of writing, the bitcoin price is near $71,200.