PrimeXBT: AI is setting the mood for markets, and crypto is following

So far this year, Bitcoin and the Nasdaq have been performing quite differently. Tech stocks kept setting records on the back of the AI mania, while the primary cryptocurrency was struggling in a full-blown bear market. The same driving force underpinned both trends: Artificial Intelligence. It directed capital allocation and now appears to be shaping the daily performance of both tech stocks and crypto assets. Bitcoin peaked at around $126,000 in October 2025, but fell sharply in the following months, bottoming just under $58,000 in early July. During the same timeframe, the Nasdaq 100 climbed about 23%. The gap widened most in the second quarter of 2026, when Bitcoin plunged about 14%, and the Nasdaq 100 rose about 28%. Bitcoin seemed to lack the catalyst AI enjoyed this year. The sector benefited from new product launches, rising earnings, and massive investment commitments. Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta intend to spend a total of over $700 billion this year, primarily to expand AI infrastructure and chip capacity. At the same time, capital left Bitcoin funds. Spot US Bitcoin ETFs saw about $5.4 billion in net outflows in the first six months of 2026, making it the first half-year period with negative flows since their debut. Robbie Mitchnick – BlackRock’s head of digital assets – said in June that the AI momentum was “sucking a lot of the oxygen out of the room”, and described Bitcoin’s weakness as part of a wider pattern that also negatively impacted gold and other assets. Some crypto entities also pivoted toward the AI boom. Bitcoin miners, for instance, control valuable infrastructure, including power connections, land, and cooling systems that AI firms desperately need. One of the major players in that field – TeraWulf – signed a 20-year lease with Anthropic worth around $19 billion, while IREN plans to move most of its sites from mining to AI by the end of 2026. During the first half of the year, BTC made lower highs and lower lows. July marked the first sign of change as the price climbed 7% while the Nasdaq 100 fell about 7%, with analysts noting that much of the leverage had already been flushed out in June. In September, Bitcoin broke above its May high near $82,800 and pumped to approximately $87,400. This marked a break in structure and the first sign the bear market could be over. Since then, Bitcoin and tech have started moving together again and last week showed how close that link has become. Meta’s results on 21 October beat revenue forecasts, but its quarterly capital spending exceeded the cash its operations generated. The next day, the Nasdaq Composite slipped 2.6%, representing its worst day since early June, and chip stocks dropped almost 7%. Bitcoin