Cryptocurrency prices and equity futures experienced a notable retreat on Thursday morning, indicating a challenging start for major indices. Bitcoin, the leading digital currency, experienced a decline of 2.11%, bringing its price down to $90,090. This bearish movement set a negative tone for digital asset miners, who typically correlate closely with Bitcoin’s performance.
In the pre-market trading session, Bitcoin mining equities mirrored this downward trend. CleanSpark (NASDAQ: CLSK) led the losses with a drop of 3.03%, while Hut 8 (NASDAQ: HUT) followed closely with a decline of 3.19%. Other notable declines included Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA), which fell by 2.6%, and TeraWulf (NASDAQ: WULF) and IREN (NASDAQ: IREN), both registering approximately 2.5% losses. Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT) dropped 2.38%, Core Scientific (NASDAQ: CORZ) decreased by 2.02%, and American Bitcoin (Nasdaq: ABTC) fell 1.04%.
The volatility didn’t stop with cryptocurrencies; the artificial intelligence sector also faced significant selling pressure, primarily due to a sharp decline in Oracle’s shares. Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) plummeted by 13.18% following a disappointing report on its quarterly cloud revenue, which, despite year-over-year growth, failed to meet investor expectations. The company also raised its capital expenditure outlook dramatically to $50 billion for 2026 to support AI infrastructure, further raising concerns over an already substantial debt load.
This drop in Oracle’s stock further affected other major players in the AI space, including Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), which saw a reduction of 1.59% in its share price. Analysts pointed out Oracle’s heavy dependence on a few large partners, such as OpenAI, as a significant concentration risk that could deter future investments.
The overall weakness in both the tech and cryptocurrency sectors substantially influenced broader market futures, leading to declines in key indices. S&P 500 futures fell by 0.32%, and Nasdaq futures decreased by 0.52% in early trading hours, setting the stage for a lower opening across markets.
