Bitcoin cracks below $82,000, its biggest slide in about two weeks, as AI doubts hit Tesla and Meta and Chinese stocks enter a bear market, even after ETFs took in more than $1 billion in three days

Bitcoin's push toward $85,000 cracked on Thursday. The coin fell as much as 2.9% from midnight UTC to about $81,600, its largest slide in about two weeks, after a late-Wednesday push to nearly $84,800, CoinDesk reported. As of about 7:15am Eastern it traded near $81,800, Yahoo Finance reported. Ether lost 2.6% to near $2,400 and the CoinDesk 80 altcoin index fell about 3.2%.

The trigger came from outside crypto. Mixed earnings from Tesla and Meta revived doubts about AI spending, sending Nasdaq 100 futures down 1.32%, while Chinese stocks entered a bear market and Hong Kong's Hang Seng, South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 all fell, by about 2.7% to 3.5%, according to CoinDesk. Brent crude held above $111 a barrel after topping $112 early in the day, Yahoo Finance reported, adding to inflation worries.

DeFi tokens led the losses: CoinDesk's DeFi index fell 5.6%, Curve dropped 8.2%, Ethena 7.2% and Uniswap 5%. Liquidations rose 52% to about $431 million. Solana slipped 2.4% to about $104 despite its Alpenglow upgrade going live overnight, while Monero bucked the trend, up 4.9%.

The selling came despite steady fund demand. US spot bitcoin ETFs took in more than $1 billion over the first three days of the week, CoinDesk reported, citing SoSoValue. But its analysis found the pace since July 1, about $86 million a day, is far below the average daily inflows of $202 million to $294 million that accompanied the three steep rallies since the funds launched. "Flows remain volatile, and sustained inflows are needed to confirm a stronger recovery," said Vikram Subburaj, chief executive of the Indian exchange Giottus, per CoinDesk's daybook.

Bitcoin's share of the crypto market reached 60% on Wednesday, its highest since May, CoinDesk's daybook noted. What to watch next: the Federal Reserve's rate-setting meeting next week.