Bitcoin Crashes to $60K as Cryptocurrency Market Sentiment Reaches Multi-Year Lows
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index recorded its lowest reading since the Terra ecosystem collapse in mid-2022, coinciding with Bitcoin's sharp decline to approximately $60,000.
The cryptocurrency market has witnessed sentiment deteriorate to levels not seen in more than three and a half years, as Bitcoin experienced a double-digit percentage decline, reaching lows near the $60,000 threshold.
On Friday, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index registered a reading of 9 out of 100, signaling "extreme fear" among market participants and marking its weakest showing since June 2022, a period when both sentiment and prices tumbled following the Terra blockchain's collapse approximately one month prior.
Over the past two weeks, the index has remained depressed as Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a dramatic 38% plunge from its 2026 peak of $97,000 within a mere three-week span, completely erasing gains accumulated over the preceding sixteen months.
Bitcoin falls to $60,000 on Coinbase
During early Friday morning trading sessions, Bitcoin dropped to its weakest price point since October 2024, falling to slightly above $60,000 on the Coinbase exchange, data from TradingView shows.
At present, the cryptocurrency is exchanging hands at marginally above $64,000 following a 13% decline across the previous 24-hour period, representing a loss exceeding $10,000 in what marks its most substantial single-day drop since mid-2022.
Bitcoin has now declined beneath the 200-week exponential moving average, a critical long-term trend metric, a phenomenon that has only occurred previously during the most severe phases of bear market cycles. The digital asset currently sits 50% below its all-time peak of $126,000 reached in early October.
Throughout the last 24-hour window, upwards of 588,000 traders experienced liquidations totaling $2.7 billion, with 85% representing leveraged long positions, primarily concentrated in Bitcoin, data from CoinGlass indicates.
Tech stock slump and Fed caution behind the crash
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Jeff Ko, chief analyst at CoinEx Research, explained that Bitcoin's drawdown exceeding 20% within a single week parallels a widespread selloff across US technology equities "where stretched valuations and lingering concerns around an artificial intelligence-driven bubble have long been highlighted by the market."
"Even Amazon suffered a double-digit decline overnight following a mixed earnings release," he added. "Investors are increasingly reassessing Bitcoin's failure to function as a safe haven compared to gold."
Nick Ruck, director at LVRG Research, attributed Bitcoin's decline and the wider market downturn to "heightened risk aversion" stemming from "softer US job market signals, including rising unemployment claims that raise doubts about sustained economic strength and potential Fed caution on aggressive rate cuts."