Macroeconomic nervousness due to the emergence of AI disruption trading is compounding weakness in native cryptocurrencies, with the majors posting weekly losses of 8-11% across the board.
Bitcoin slipped to around $62,900 on Tuesday, down 2.1% for the day and 7.5% for the week, extending a sharp decline that has so far refused to produce either a clean breakdown or a strong rebound.
Price action has the market stuck in the $60,000-$70,000 band that formed after the Feb. 5 chase — a range that’s starting to look less like a base and more like a hold pattern waiting for a catalyst.
Altcoins are in a worse situation. Ethereum was trading near $1,829, down 8% for the week. XRP fell 10.8%, Solana SOL fell 11.3%, and dogecoin fell almost 10%. The underperformance of the majors reflects a market where risk appetite is diminishing in favor of bitcoin and even that supply is dwindling.
CryptoQuant reported selling pressure among altcoins at a five-year high, suggesting holders are actively distributing into a market where buyers remain scarce outside the largest cap.
This type of structural selling tends to push prices lower without the dramatic liquidation candles that attract dip buyers, making it a slower purge and more difficult for momentum traders to position.
FxPro chief market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich said in an email that Bitcoin’s recent recovery attempt is shaping up to be a consolidation rather than a reversal. He highlighted the formation of a bearish pennant on the daily chart, noting that a move below the mid-$65,000 zone would confirm the continuation of the decline, while a break above $70,000 would invalidate the trend.
More broadly, he described the $60,000 to $70,000 range as historically significant – an area that served as a ceiling for the entire 2021 cycle and now appears to be serving as a battleground between long-term accumulators and new holders cutting their losses.
AI fears return
Added to the pressure is a macro dynamic that has nothing directly to do with cryptography but which draws on the same pool of risk capital.
A report from Citrini Research this week flagged the emergence of an “AI scare trade,” warning of widespread economic disruption from artificial intelligence in the delivery, payments and software industries. The note sparked selling in tech-adjacent stocks as investors reassessed which companies benefited from AI adoption and which faced displacement risk.
This type of general risk recalibration tends to affect crypto with some lag. Digital assets don’t always sell at the same rate as stocks, but they are susceptible to the same changes in liquidity and positioning that lead to risk aversion – and right now, the mood in both markets is moving in the same direction.
Bitcoin is now 48% below its October all-time high and 5.5% below its 2021 high of $69,000. The more the price moves within this range without regaining higher ground, the more the technical situation leans in favor of the bears.
