Bitcoin (BTC) lost about 7% in October, breaking the Uptober pattern of seasonal gains. The slide came as the artificial intelligence (AI) trade cracked.
Oil futures climbed as Treasury yields slid, breaking an 80% correlation seen this year. Meanwhile, Bitcoin dropped about 4% late Thursday, hours before Friday’s Nasdaq selloff and instep with the historic hack of Binance.
Why Did Oil and Bonds Stop Moving Together?
Jeffrey Rosenberg, a senior portfolio manager at BlackRock, traces the break to AI stocks. The Magnificent Seven, the largest AI-linked US companies, retreated through October.
“In the market’s mind, the geopolitical risk is secondary to AI risk.”
Rosenberg said this on CNBC.
In his view, markets now read AI weakness as a warning for US growth. That pulled yields lower even as oil climbed.
Rosenberg calls third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) strong and AI-related. Business investment rose 12.7%, the biggest gain outside the pandemic since 2011.
However, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh disagreed on Wednesday. He argued that capital spending is broadening beyond narrow pockets.
Warsh also named rising oil as a factor in the central bank’s inflation fight. Rate futures had pointed to a December hike by mid-October, as Fed rate hike bets built.
Google, meanwhile, posted its largest one-day drop on record last week, erasing about $500 billion in value.
Does Bitcoin Uptober Still Matter When AI Drives Markets?
Historically, Bitcoin rose in 10 of 13 Octobers through 2025, with a median gain near 15%, data shows.
October 2025 also ended lower, so Bitcoin’s 2026 price decline marks a second straight red October.
Microsoft, in contrast, returned to the public bond market after nearly a decade. Credit default swap spreads, which price default insurance, sit near 55 for Microsoft. Oracle’s sit closer to 300.
Rosenberg says the bond market can absorb an expected $4 trillion of AI debt over four years. The cost would be lower prices and wider spreads. If that supply arrives, the AI buildout would sit at the center of bond pricing, not just equity sentiment.
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