Bitcoin rebounds after dreadful day that saw $1.26 billion in liquidations
CoinMarketCap’s Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at an all-time low of 5, representing “extreme fear.”
The bloodbath bitcoin’s been suffering seems to have been staunched, at least as of Friday morning, following the asset dropping to the $63,000 level on Thursday, it’s lowest price since October 2024. Bitcoin has climbed back above $68,000, but that’s still a 46% drop from its October 6 all-time high. This also marks bitcoin’s largest two-week drawdown since June 2022, according to K33 Research.
Reflecting the market panic, CoinMarketCap’s Fear and Greed Index hit an all-time low of 5, reflecting “extreme fear.”
Meanwhile, crypto liquidations reached $2.42 billion in the past 24 hours, CoinGlass data shows. Bitcoin suffered $1.26 billion in liquidations, with the bulk of them — $984.25 million — in long positions.
Bitunix analyst Dean Chen told Sherwood News that at this stage, the crypto market functions largely as a reflection of overall risk sentiment.
“Bitcoin has retraced toward its weekly demand zone, trading around the $66,000 level. Key structural support lies in the $62,000–$60,000 range, while a recovery above $71,000–$73,000 would be needed to signal an improvement in risk absorption,” Chen said. “Until political uncertainty is further digested, price action is likely to remain dominated by consolidation and post-deleveraging rebalancing rather than a renewed directional trend.”
Bitcoin ETFs continue to be in the red, with $434 million in outflows on Thursday. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, which was close to $100 billion in assets under management in October, is now down to $48.68 billion, SoSoValue data shows.
John Glover, CIO of Ledn, told Sherwood that bitcoin’s current retreat also calls into question whether we see highs above $100,000 at all in 2026.
“There is something structural in the market that is causing weakness, but one thing is clear: the bears are attacking the bulls,” he said.
Longer-term, Josh Olszewicz, VP head of trading at Canary Capital, also told Sherwood that the dearth of any bullish catalysts at the moment and the macro backdrop remaining unsupportive for crypto assets leads him to expect the bear market to likely last until Q4 of this year, “with BTC price eventually stabilizing in the $50-$60k region around the 200-week moving average,” he said.
