Bitcoin fell below $66,000 during the early afternoon hours in the US as this week’s crypto selloff accelerated to a bloodbath on Thursday.
The biggest 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.
February 5 could be one of the worst days in bitcoin history. BTC is on track to suffer its steepest one-day decline – 10.5% since midnight UTC at current prices – since November 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 fell 15% on the day and is now nearly 40% below its record just a week ago. Gold also fell more than 2.8% to $4,820, but that selloff was not as bad as silver. The precious metal is now trading about 15% below last week’s record.
Software stocks, which often move in lockstep with bitcoin, continued to sell off, with the thematic iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF ( IGV ) down more than 3% and down 24% year-to-date. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were also 1% lower.
No savings were made on crypto shares either. Coinbase (COIN), Galaxy (GLXY), Strategy MSTR, and BitMine (BMNR) fell more than 10%, while several crypto miners, including Bitfarms (BITF), CleanSpark (CLSK), Hut 8 (HUT), and Mara (MARA), saw similar losses.
“A big factor is just very thin liquidity,” says Adrian Fritz, investment strategist at 21shares. “If there’s a bit of a selling pressure, it usually triggers a lot of liquidations.”
In a fragile market environment with few buy and sell orders to cushion trades, even modest sell-offs can trigger a large price reaction that in turn triggers further liquidations.
While some have been saying the worst is over for weeks now, Fritz thinks otherwise.
“There is still no signal that we bottomed out. I think it is too early. There is no confirmed reversal,” he said.
He points to the 200-day moving average — currently around $58,000 to $60,000 — as an important support level to watch. That level also aligns with bitcoin’s “realized price,” or the average cost basis for all bitcoin holders, which he believes could serve as strong multi-year support.
Read more: Bitcoin may still fall further. Historical data shows $60,000 will be the bottom
Altcoins Decimated
Bitcoin’s performance may seem minor compared to the brutal selloff of altcoins.
Almost all CoinDesk index prices, including major tokens and memecoins, have fallen by more than 10% in the last 24 hours.
XRP, which fell 19% in the same 24-hour period, underperformed most other large-cap cryptocurrencies.
While Fritz said he believes there is no specific trigger that is putting additional pressure on the token, he said that “from a technical standpoint, there aren’t many support levels for XRP.”
Read more: Here’s what industry veterans are saying as bitcoin falls below $70,000
