Bitcoin surged in Asian trading on Friday after a fresh round of selling briefly dragged the cryptocurrency down toward $60,000, deepening a downturn that has left it more than 50 percent below its October peak.
During late U.S. trading, BTC dropped as much as 4.8 percent to roughly $60,033 before bouncing back to $65,926. The rebound came after Thursday’s 13 percent plunge, marking bitcoin’s steepest single-day decline since November 2022, when the collapse of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried sparked a marketwide panic.
As of 8:24 GMT, Bitcoin was trading 3.26 percent higher at $64,840, while Ether was down 10.82 percent at $1,881.16.
Bitcoin set for 15 percent drop this week
Bitcoin’s rebound from a 16-month low came amid a global tech stock sell-off that has pressured riskier assets. Despite the recovery, bitcoin remains close to its lowest level since October 2024, just before Donald Trump’s presidential victory, when he had indicated plans to support cryptocurrency during his campaign.
Bitcoin was poised to drop 15 percent for the week, bringing its year-to-date losses to 26 percent, while ether faced a weekly decline of 16 percent, with nearly 36 percent lost so far this year.
“Since the beginning of 2026, Bitcoin, Ether and Binance Coin (BNB) have faced heightened volatility, with a sharp sell-off underscoring how even the largest cryptocurrencies remain sensitive to market pressures, leveraged positioning and shifts in investor sentiment,” said Axel Rudolph, Market Analyst at IG.
“The catalyst for the current sell-off was a renewed risk-off rotation across cryptocurrencies, amid uncertainty over the timing of future interest rate cuts and weakness in technology stocks, triggering de-risking across speculative assets,” he added.
Rudolph explains that although Bitcoin typically acts as the most defensive asset within crypto, it was still used as a primary source of liquidity, while higher-beta assets such as Ether and BNB came under disproportionate pressure as traders reduced exposure.
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Bitcoin’s resilience fails to prevent broader market weakness
Crypto sentiment has been weighed down by recent selling in precious metals and equities, as gold and silver, in particular, have seen heightened volatility due to leveraged positions and speculative trading.
Some of these declines eased on Friday as selling pressure cooled. Bitcoin’s performance has long been linked to the broader tech sector, often rising alongside investor excitement around artificial intelligence.
“Leverage dynamics played a central role in intensifying the decline. In the weeks leading up to the sell-off, derivatives data showed a rebuilding of speculative long positions across major cryptocurrencies as traders positioned for further upside. When prices failed to extend higher and instead broke below key technical support levels, stop-loss orders were triggered and liquidations accelerated. The forced unwinding of leveraged longs pushed prices lower than spot selling alone would likely have achieved, creating a self-reinforcing feedback loop across the market,” added Rudolph.
Institutional flows also reflected the shift in sentiment. Since the start of 2026, activity in Bitcoin, Ether and BNB-linked investment products has been selective rather than conviction-driven. Periods of inflows have alternated with outflows, highlighting a tactical approach to allocation.
During the current sell-off, the absence of aggressive institutional dip-buying, particularly in Ether and BNB, left prices vulnerable to sustained downside momentum, while Bitcoin’s relative resilience still failed to prevent broader market weakness.
