Bitcoin Outperforms Tech Giants Amid Market Turmoil, Holds 3% Decline

Bitcoin (BTC) demonstrated resilience against major tech stocks on April 3 and April 4, as markets faced significant losses across the so-called “Magnificent Seven” (MAG7).

Geoffrey Kendrick, head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, noted that Bitcoin’s performance indicates a growing role as a dual-purpose asset, serving both as a growth trade and a hedge against macro risks. During this period, all seven tech giants experienced declines, with Nvidia, Google, and Meta falling nearly 8% or more. In contrast, Bitcoin and Microsoft posted milder declines of around 3%, with Ethereum (ETH) also faring better than most of the MAG7.

Kendrick argued that Bitcoin’s strong performance compared to legacy markets suggests that this divergence is not a one-off event. He noted that Bitcoin “trades more like tech stocks than it does gold most of the time,” indicating that BTC tends to rise and fall with risk-on assets. However, he emphasized that its utility goes beyond just speculative upside. During moments of structural stress in traditional finance, such as the March 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Bitcoin has acted as a hedge, providing investors with an alternative to banking sector exposure. Kendrick categorized this as Bitcoin’s usefulness as a “TradFi hedge.”

Kendrick believes a new use case is emerging: a hedge against “US isolation.” Though he didn’t define the term, it likely refers to increasing geopolitical decoupling, concerns over U.S. economic dominance, or rising de-dollarization narratives. Kendrick further argued that over the last 36 hours, Bitcoin can also be considered a hedge against “US isolation.”

Looking ahead, Kendrick noted that Bitcoin may be approaching an important technical breakout following the positive US labor market report on April 4. He predicted that a break back above the critical $85k level looks likely, opening up a move back to the $88.5k pre-tariff level from Wednesday. He concluded that Bitcoin is proving to be “the best of tech,” benefiting when growth stocks rally while also offering defensive characteristics across multiple market regimes. He concluded his analysis with a simple message for long-term believers in Bitcoin: “HODL.”