# When AI Dreams Collide With Bitcoin Reality

Bitcoin just got slapped back to $94,590—six-month lows—as the AI hype train suddenly hit the brakes. Here's what actually went down:

**The Cascade Effect**: Tech stocks tanked hard on earnings concerns. Michael Burry caught something interesting: companies might've been gaming depreciation schedules on hardware to pad profits. Once that narrative cracks, risk money evaporates. Spot Bitcoin ETFs bled $1.15B in two days. Not catastrophic in percentage terms (<1% of AUM), but timing is everything.

**Leverage Got Wiped**: $900M in BTC longs liquidated, though that's only 1.8% of total open interest—way smaller than the Oct. 10 bloodbath. Derivatives aren't showing true panic yet. Futures premium sitting at 4%, futures traders are genuinely uncertain whether to load up or bail.

**The Old Guard's Exit**: A single Bitcoin whale from 2011 dumped holdings. Markets read this as "long-term believers losing faith," but it's probably just one person taking profits. Whales at major exchanges actually bought the dip anyway—so conflicting signals.

**Macro Headwinds**: Trump's tariff talk is spooking everyone. Mohamed El-Erian warning about recession risk hitting lower-income households hard. When the economy gets sketchy, risk assets—including crypto—aren't the place people park cash.

**The Twist**: Options market holding steady (delta skew at 10%). Sophisticated traders aren't capitulating. They're probably just waiting for the macro noise to settle. Bitcoin's down 24% from ATH but hasn't cracked psychologically yet.

**Bottom Line**: BTC under pressure unless AI earnings fears ease and recession talk cools down. But smart money testing lows suggests the bottom might be closer than it looks.