(June 4): Bitcoin slumped to its weakest level in almost four months as renewed clashes in the Middle East weighed on wider market sentiment, before bouncing off its lows.
The original cryptocurrency fell 5.5% to US$61,322 ($78,742) in early Singapore trading on Thursday, its lowest since Feb 6, but climbed back above US$64,000 in the afternoon. It was sitting around US$64,200 at 1.35pm.
“The sharp swing shows that bitcoin is finding support around US$63,000, which many traders have been watching closely,” said Damien Loh, chief investment officer at Ericsenz Capital. “There were a large number of investors betting on further price declines, and many of those positions were quickly wiped out as prices started to rise.”
It has still been a bruising week for bitcoin that has seen it shed about 13% of its value, a slide that began after Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc sold about US$2.5 million of its giant holdings. Saylor’s so-called digital-asset treasury company has been one of the biggest purchasers of bitcoin over the past few years and the sale, though tiny, rattled investors.
“Bitcoin price is down this week as Strategy broke its ‘never sell’ vow that shattered the confidence of the market,” said Josh Du, chief investment officer at Animoca Brands.
See also: Trump family’s stablecoin wealth fuelled by relationship with Binance
The selloff underscored bitcoin’s divergence from technology stocks, which hit records as the token retreated. Bitcoin has lost about half its value since hitting an all-time high above US$126,000 last October.
The token remains vulnerable to macro risks, falling further in the wake of overnight strikes that have threatened US-Iran talks for an interim peace deal. Asian stocks and US equity-index futures fell on Thursday in Singapore.
Smaller cryptocurrencies have also come under pressure. Ether, the second-largest digital asset, slumped to its lowest level since April 2025 before joining bitcoin’s afternoon bounce.
See also: Ether and privacy coins lead latest losses as crypto plummets
About US$1.3 billion of bullish bets were wiped out in the last 24 hours, with bitcoin leading the way, according to CoinGlass.
Investors have pulled nearly US$4.4 billion from US-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds over the past 13 sessions — a record streak of consecutive outflows — according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Uploaded by Chng Shear Lane
