Bitcoin recovers from early dip in echo of Nasdaq's performance

Tracking risk assets like growth stocks, bitcoin (BTC-USD) has retraced from an earlier dip Thursday is now about even at $23.4K. In the past 24 hours, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap had slipped to as low as $23.2K.The recovery echoes that of the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which edged up ~0.1% in late morning trading after a weak open.Ethereum (ETH-USD), meanwhile, is having a better morning, rising 1.8%. Earlier, CME Group said it will launch trading of options on ether futures on Sept. 12. Traders are also awaiting the ether's transition to proof-of-stake from proof-of-work, an event called the Merge that's expected on Sept. 15.Action is mixed in individual stocks in the cryptoverse: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC:GBTC) +1.2%, MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) -0.5%, Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA) -0.5%, Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT) +1.7%, Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) -2.2%, HIVE Blockchain (NASDAQ:HIVE) +2.0%, Hut 8 Mining (NASDAQ:HUT) -5.0%, and CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK) +0.2%.See why SA contributor Dang Quan Vuong is bearish on ether (ETH-USD).