Bitcoin traded close to the $75,000 support level on Wednesday after failing to break through $78,000 a day earlier, keeping the btc price pinned near a line traders have been watching closely. Ether also stayed under pressure, bouncing off $2,050 at 05:30 UTC before changing hands around $2,080.
The move left the crypto market looking out of step with a broader risk rally. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 index futures hit record highs on Wednesday after adding about 0.3%, while bitcoin remained below Tom Lee’s $76,000 line in the sand. Lee has said that level would signal the end of a bear market if bitcoin were to finish the month above it.
Ether had already been rejected off $2,150 on Tuesday and drifted toward the $2,000 support level, adding to the sense that major cryptocurrencies were struggling to keep pace. The weakness spread to AI-linked tokens as well, with RENDER, FET and NEAR giving back much of Tuesday’s rally and falling between 1% and 3% since midnight UTC.
The split matters because it shows bitcoin decoupling from the U.S. stock market rally at a moment when traders are trying to decide whether the recent rebound has staying power. That question has become sharper after CNBC reported on Tuesday that Elon Musk was discussing a merger between Tesla and SpaceX, a combination it said would create the world’s fifth-largest corporate bitcoin treasury worth $3.3 billion.
For now, the setup is simple. Bitcoin is holding near support, ether is trying to stabilize above $2,000, and the broader market is waiting to see whether the latest stock strength can pull crypto with it or whether digital assets keep moving on their own terms.
