Bitcoin fell to $59,175 overnight, its lowest point since early June, before reversing to around $61,500 on Thursday morning, per CoinDesk data. Nearly $1 billion worth of futures positions were liquidated across crypto majors, such as bitcoin, ether, solana and others, into tokenized versions of stocks, such as Micron Technology Inc ( MU ) and Sandisk ( SNDK ).
The plunge triggered about $430 million in long liquidations on bitcoin-tracked futures, or bets on higher prices that were automatically closed when the price fell.
No single catalyst drove the move. Bitcoin has lost about 10% since Monday’s peak near $65,500, dragged down by the same forces that have dominated all week: a hawkish Fed, six straight weeks of ETF outflows, thinner summer liquidity and a quartering option expiring June 30 that traders say is keeping the market volatile.
Major market maker Wintermute had marked $59,000 as the lowest bear market to see in its Tuesday note.
The rejection came from external crypto. Micron Technology reported quarterly earnings after the close that crushed analyst estimates, sending the company’s shares sharply higher and lifting the broader memory chip complex.
SK Hynix separately revealed plans for a U.S. IPO seeking about $29 billion, one of the largest offerings ever. Samsung and Kioxia gathered in Asia on Thursday morning.
The same trade in AI chips that sent the Kospi down 10% on Monday on fears that the spending boom had stalled is now the thing stabilizing crypto, with Micron’s results reading as confirmation that demand for AI memory is structural, not speculative.
The end of the quarter remains the live risk of the week. Bitcoin’s low of $59,000 held, but $1.6 billion in leveraged long positions have accumulated below $58,000 per CoinGlass, meaning a pause there would accelerate the decline.
Thursday’s PCE inflation print, the Fed’s preferred price gauge, is the next data point that could move the market in either direction.
