Nvidia’s blowout quarter gets the market’s cold shoulder

When Nvidia Corporation reported third-quarter revenue of $57 billion - up 62 % year-on-year - it looked like another flawless win in the AI hardware race. Yet despite the surge and raised guidance of about $65 billion for the next quarter, the market’s reaction was oddly restrained.

In a leaked all-hands meeting, CEO Jensen Huang admitted: “The market did not appreciate it.” This disconnect between execution and excitement reveals how high expectations - and AI euphoria - have raised the bar for even the best performers.

What’s driving Nvidia’s blowout quarter

The lifeblood of Nvidia’s results is still data-centre demand - the backbone of AI infrastructure. That segment alone generated roughly $51 billion in revenue, up 66% year-over-year and 25% quarter-over-quarter. 

Flagship products like the Blackwell platform continue to dominate enterprise orders, while guidance now points toward another record quarter - $65 billion in revenue, 65% growth year-on-year. Nvidia isn’t merely growing; it’s defining the tempo for an entire industry’s capital-expenditure cycle.

Geopolitical and structural forces amplify that growth. As cloud, robotics and autonomous systems scale globally, Nvidia’s hardware sits at the centre of innovation - and the bottleneck of supply. But with success comes fragility: when perfection becomes expected, the smallest wobble feels seismic. “When you’ve trained the market to expect perfection,” one analyst quipped, “even great isn’t good enough.” 

Why it matters

Nvidia now commands roughly 7.31% of the S&P 500’s total weighting, making it the single most influential barometer of AI sentiment. A stock this large moving sideways after a record quarter suggests investors are questioning not the data, but the narrative.

FinancialContent called it “a crucible moment for AI and the broader market.” If Nvidia’s excellence no longer excites, the rest of tech will feel the chill.

Huang himself put it plainly: deliver a bad quarter and you’re blamed for bursting the bubble; deliver a great one and you’re accused of fuelling it. That perception trap highlights a new phase in the AI trade - one where results must be beyond exceptional to move markets. It also reflects a subtle shift: from hype and promise to discipline and delivery.

Impact on the tech & AI ecosystem

Nvidia’s print initially lifted tech shares across the board, with AMD, Broadcom and memory suppliers riding the optimism. But as the day wore on, those gains faded - proof that enthusiasm has become fragile.

According to analysts, if monster results no longer trigger a rally, it implies much of the AI infrastructure growth is already priced in. Investors may now reward operational efficiency over raw expansion. That’s a natural evolution: when growth matures, valuation discipline takes over.

For hardware buyers and enterprise users, this evolution may mean slightly easier supply conditions but tighter pricing. Nvidia’s challenge will be to sustain margins while scaling output - a shift from visionary growth to industrial precision.

Expert outlook

Market watchers say two roads lie ahead. If Nvidia continues to execute - scaling new product lines, widening manufacturing capacity, and navigating export risks - it can retain leadership and extend its run. The company still holds a technological moat that few can breach.

The other scenario is one of valuation reset: if investors start questioning whether hardware growth can outpace cost inflation and competition indefinitely, Nvidia could face a plateau. As one Bernstein analyst put it: “I’m not sure what else you can ask for, at least on the print.” 

For traders, the signals to monitor are guidance trends, backlog updates (especially in China), and the rollout pace of the Rubin and Blackwell chips. A market-cap swing of half a trillion dollars in weeks shows just how sensitive sentiment has become.

Nvidia technical insights

At the time of writing, Nvidia (NVDA) trades near $194.50, rebounding from the lower Bollinger Band after testing the $179.70 support level. The Bollinger Bands (10, close) are moderately widening - a sign of increasing volatility - with price action gravitating toward the midline. This suggests a potential continuation toward the upper band in the short term.

The $173.20 level stands out as the next key support; a break below could spark sell liquidations and amplify downside momentum. Conversely, $208.00 forms a strong resistance zone where both profit-taking and late-cycle FOMO buying could emerge if the rally extends.

Momentum indicators add weight to the bullish case. The RSI (14) has turned sharply upward, crossing above the midline around 50 - a technical cue for renewed buying pressure. A sustained move above that level, supported by stability above $179.70, would reinforce a short-term uptrend and re-engage traders eyeing momentum moves.

For those mapping scenarios, the Deriv calculator can be useful for simulating profit and loss under different volatility setups - an essential complement to chart analysis when planning NVDA trades on Deriv MT5.

Key takeaway

Investors see Nvidia as remaining the nucleus of the AI infrastructure boom - financially unmatched and technologically dominant. Yet the market’s lukewarm response marks a turning point: investors no longer reward promise, only proof. In this new phase of the AI trade, execution, margin resilience and innovation cadence will define leadership. For traders, Nvidia’s chart may hint at short-term upside, but the bigger story is one of shifting expectations - where perfection is now the baseline, not the surprise.