Bitcoin plunged below $62,000 on Thursday morning Hong Kong time, triggering more than $1.5 billion in leveraged cryptocurrency liquidations in the past 24 hours, as a wave of forced selling accelerated the market’s biggest decline in months.
According to CoinGlass data, more than 208,000 traders were liquidated across crypto markets, with bitcoin accounting for more than $800 million in losses and ether another $386 million.
The wave of liquidations coincided with continued weakness in institutional demand. Investors withdrew about $1 billion from U.S. bitcoin spot ETFs this week, according to SoSoValue data, extending the funds’ record streak of net outflows.
Presto Research argued in a note Thursday that bitcoin’s weakness could reflect broader competition for investor capital rather than a single crypto-specific catalyst.
The firm said Bitcoin’s major declines this year coincided with a rally in gold and AI stocks as investors lowered their expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut.
If this relationship continues, they argue, Bitcoin’s recovery may depend less on the evolution of the crypto market and more on easing inflation fears and a further shift toward liquidity-sensitive assets.
