Bitcoin extended its sharp selloff on Thursday, sliding nearly 8% to trade close to the $70,000 mark as thin market liquidity and a broad slump in global technology stocks weighed heavily on risk-sensitive assets.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency was last down 7.6% at $70,427 by 00:28 ET (05:28 GMT), hovering around its weakest levels since early November 2024. Earlier in the session, prices briefly fell to an intraday low near $70,130.
Bitcoin has now declined in seven of the past eight sessions, wiping out more than 40% of its value since hitting a record high close to $126,000 in October.
Bitcoin pressured by weak liquidity and tech stock selloff
Market participants pointed to notably thin liquidity conditions, which magnified price swings and intensified selling once bitcoin broke through key technical levels. The move triggered a wave of forced liquidations as stop-loss orders were activated.
The crypto selloff followed steep losses in global technology shares overnight, as investor concerns grew over artificial intelligence adoption timelines and rising capital expenditure by major firms. Weakness in U.S. tech stocks spilled into Asian markets and spilled over into cryptocurrencies, which have increasingly tracked high-growth equities during periods of market stress.
The decline was further amplified by heavy unwinding of leveraged positions in derivatives markets after bitcoin fell below the $75,000 threshold. Data from CoinGlass showed that nearly $770 million worth of cryptocurrency positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours.
Broader macroeconomic factors also added pressure, with a stronger U.S. dollar and slightly higher global bond yields reducing appetite for speculative assets. Even traditional safe havens struggled, highlighting strained liquidity across markets. Silver prices plunged nearly 17% in Asian trade, while gold also weakened.
Crypto sentiment has deteriorated after weeks of volatile trading and repeated failures to regain higher price levels.
Altcoins sink alongside bitcoin
Losses were widespread across the digital asset market. Ethereum fell 7.4% to $2,098.9, while XRP slumped 10% to $1.42.
Solana declined 6%, Cardano dropped 5%, and Polygon lost 3.2%. Among meme tokens, Dogecoin slid 6%, while the $TRUMP token fell 3.5%.
