Futures
Access hundreds of perpetual contracts
CFD
Gold
One platform for global traditional assets
Options
Hot
Trade European-style vanilla options
Unified Account
Maximize your capital efficiency
Demo Trading
Introduction to Futures Trading
Learn the basics of futures trading
Futures Events
Join events to earn rewards
Demo Trading
Use virtual funds to practice risk-free trading
CFD
Stock CFD Derivatives
US Stocks
Access real US stocks and ETFs
HK Stocks
Trade quality Hong Kong-listed stocks
Korean Stocks
SK Hynix
Real Korean stocks and top assets
Stock Futures
High leverage, 24/7 trading
Tokenized Stocks
Backed by real stock assets
IPO Access
Unlock full access to global stock IPOs
GUSD
3.8%
Mint GUSD for Treasury RWA yields
Stocks Activities
Trade Popular Stocks and Unlock Generous Airdrops
Launch
CandyDrop
Collect candies to earn airdrops
Launchpool
Quick staking, earn potential new tokens
HODLer Airdrop
Hold GT and get massive airdrops for free
Pre-IPOs
Unlock full access to global stock IPOs
Alpha Points
Trade on-chain assets and earn airdrops
Futures Points
Earn futures points and claim airdrop rewards
Promotions
AI
Gate AI
Your all-in-one conversational AI partner
Gate AI Bot
Use Gate AI directly in your social App
GateClaw
Gate Blue Lobster, ready to go
Gate for AI Agent
AI infrastructure, Gate MCP, Skills, and CLI
Gate Skills Hub
10K+ Skills
From office tasks to trading, the all-in-one skill hub makes AI even more useful.
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Drops 18.5%: Here Is Why It Matters - U.Today
According to Galaxy Research, Bitcoin mining difficulty has fallen about 18.5% from its peak in one of the largest drops since 2021's "China ban," which saw a crackdown on the industry.
According to a miner capitulation chart accompanying Galaxy's research tweet, the difficulty drawdown during 2021's "China ban" was 45% and 32% during the 2018 bear market.
Bitcoin's difficulty adjustment allows the network to maintain about a 10-minute target block time despite fluctuations up or down in hashrate. The recent decline in difficulty coincides with a drop in prices, with Bitcoin extending months of selling.
HOT Stories
Big News for XRP: Ripple Officially Listed on ESMA's MiCA Register
Airbnb's Brian Chesky Breaks Silence on Crypto Hack
Bitcoin's price is currently down 50.38% from its October 2025 ATH of $126,198 as it trades around $62,000. This has resulted in several miners shutting down, especially those with older equipment coupled with high energy costs. Some have also redirected their hardware to focus on artificial intelligence (AI), as megacap firms offer stable contracts and often economically irresistible terms. This led to a significant drop in the number of active machines securing the Bitcoin network, with mining difficulty consequently dropping.
Bitcoin news
The crypto market saw fresh selling pressure on Friday as AI stocks fell, weighing on sentiment. However, a technical indicator suggests oversold conditions heading into the weekend.
BTC, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, fell below $63,000 to a low of $62,452 early Friday, extending its drop from Wednesday's high of $65,559 into a third day. At the time of writing, BTC was down 1.93% in the last 24 hours to $63,133 and down 1.83% weekly. Bitcoin subsequently fell below its 50-day simple moving average, currently at $63,899, a widely tracked gauge of near-term momentum.
In the last 24 hours, overall volume has risen about 9% to $172.44 billion across the broader crypto market, according to CoinGlass data, while open interest (OI) held steady at around $111 billion. This suggests increased activity in the market, with Bitcoin open interest rising slightly by 0.02% in the last 24 hours to $47.85 billion.