Bitcoin slid to its weakest level in 16 months on Friday, momentarily breaching the $60,000 support area before bouncing in volatile trading. The cryptocurrency hit an intraday low of $60,008.52 and was last up 1.64% at $64,153.24, moving between gains and losses as market participants reassessed positions.
Traders and analysts tied the drop to a broader deterioration in risk appetite, driven in part by a deeper selloff in technology shares. That unwind of crowded bets rippled across asset classes, amplifying pressure on digital tokens.
"Bitcoin’s been going down since October (2025), maybe you could ask if it was the canary in the coalmine, or a coincidence," said Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone in Melbourne. "A lot of these big crowded positions are being unwound very, very quickly."
Ether also moved lower earlier in the session, touching a 10-month low of $1,751.94 before recovering to trade up 2.4% at $1,891.27. The wider crypto market has given back a substantial amount of value: CoinGecko data showed a drop of around $2 trillion from a peak of $4.379 trillion in early October, with more than $1 trillion erased in the most recent month alone.
Price action for the major tokens pointed to a difficult week and start to the year. Bitcoin was on course to post a weekly loss of about 16%, bringing its year-to-date decline to roughly 27%. Ether headed for a weekly slide near 17%, leaving it down about 36% so far this year.
Market sentiment toward cryptocurrencies has been dented by volatility across other traditional stores of value and risk assets. Precious metals, including gold and silver, have shown increased swings as leveraged buying and speculative flows made prices more erratic, feeding into broader investor caution.
The connection between digital assets and the technology sector has become more pronounced over time. Bitcoin historically rose alongside bouts of investor enthusiasm for areas such as artificial intelligence, but the recent drawdown in tech has coincided with crypto losses.
"Bitcoin drifting back toward $60,000 is not crypto dying, it is the bill coming due for Treasuries and funds that treated bitcoin as a one-way asset without real risk controls, just as we have seen sharp corrections in self-proclaimed safe-haven assets like gold and silver when leverage and narrative ran ahead of reality," said Joshua Chu, co-chair of the Hong Kong Web3 Association. "Those who bet too big, borrowed too much or assumed prices only go up are now finding out the hard way what real market volatility and risk management look like."
The weakness in cryptocurrencies did not emerge overnight. Digital assets have been under pressure for months following a dramatic fall last October that pushed bitcoin sharply lower from prior highs. That episode contributed to a cooling of investor enthusiasm.
Flow data added to the picture of retreating demand. Analysts at Deutsche Bank reported that U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs experienced outflows of more than $3 billion in January, after redemptions of roughly $2 billion and $7 billion in December and November, respectively. Those persistent outflows reflect shifting investor allocations amid the recent volatility.
With market participants reassessing leverage and concentration risks, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are likely to remain sensitive to moves in technology shares, precious metals, and broad liquidity conditions. For now, the $60,000 area stands as a focal point for traders gauging whether selling pressure has eased or could deepen if risk-off dynamics persist.