What to know : Bitcoin tumbled more than 10% over the past 24 hours, dropping below $66,000 and heading for its steepest one-day decline since the FTX-driven crash in November 2022. The sell-off extended beyond crypto, with silver plunging 15% and gold sliding more than 2%, while software stocks and major U.S. equity indexes also fell. One analyst warned there is still no clear bottom for bitcoin, highlighting the $58,000 to $60,000 range as key support, as altcoins such as XRP suffer even sharper losses.
Bitcoin tumbled below $66,000 during early afternoon U.S. hours as this week's crypto selloff accelerated into a bloodbath on Thursday.
The largest cryptocurrency fell more than 10% over the past 24 hours to a session low of $65,156, according to CoinDesk data, the weakest level since October 2024 and below the 2021 peak.
Feb. 5 could be one of the worst days in bitcoin's history. BTC is on track to suffer its steepest one-day drawdown — 10.5% since midnight UTC at current prices — since Nov. 8, 2022, when the collapse of crypto exchange FTX sent BTC below $16,000 after a 14.3% drop on the day.
Crypto wasn't the only asset class under relentless selling pressure. Silver also plunged 15% during the day, and is now almost 40% below its record high just a week ago. Gold also fell more than 2.8% to $4,820, but that selloff wasn't as bad as silver. The precious metal is now trading about 15% below its record last week.
Software stocks, often moving in lockstep with bitcoin, continued to selloff, with the thematic iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV) declining more than 3% and down 24% year to date. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were also 1% lower.
Crypto stocks weren't spared either. Coinbase (COIN), Galaxy (GLXY), Strategy MSTR) and BitMine (BMNR) tumbled more than 10%, while several crypto miners, including Bitfarms (BITF), CleanSpark (CLSK), Hut 8 (HUT), and Mara (MARA), saw similar losses.
"One big factor is just very thin liquidity,” said Adrian Fritz, chief investment strategist at 21shares. "If there is a bit of a sell pressure, it usually triggers a lot of liquidations.”
In a fragile market environment with only a few buy and sell orders to cushion trades, even modest sell-offs can trigger a large price reaction, in turn triggering further liquidations.
While some have said the worst is over for weeks now, Fritz believes otherwise.
“There's still no signal that we bottomed out. I think it's too early. There's no confirmed turnaround,” he said.
He points to the 200-moving-day average — currently around $58,000 to $60,000 — as a key support level to watch. That level also aligns with bitcoin's "realized price," or the average cost basis of all bitcoin holders, which he believes could serve as a strong, multi-year support.
Read more: Bitcoin can still fall further. Historical data shows $60,000 will be the bottom
Altcoins decimated
Bitcoin's performance could seem minor compared to the brutal selloff in altcoins.
Almost all CoinDesk index prices, including major tokens and memecoins, are down by more than 10% over the last 24 hours.
XRP, which fell 19% over the same 24-hour period, underperformed most other large-cap cryptos.
While Fritz said he believes there's no specific trigger that puts extra pressure on the token, he said that "from a technical point of view, there's not a lot of support levels for XRP."
Read more: Here is what industry veterans are saying as bitcoin tumbles below $70,000
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