Major cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple (XRP) plunged to multi-month lows on Thursday, erasing all gains recorded since Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election in November 2024. The sell-off intensified risk aversion across digital assets, triggering large-scale liquidations and renewed concerns over market stability.
Bitcoin fell sharply to the $60,000 level during early Friday trading, its lowest point since November 2024. Ethereum retested the $1,750 support zone, while XRP slid to $1.11, extending its recent downtrend. All three assets have now recorded double-digit corrections, with no clear signs of an immediate rebound.
Bitcoin revisits $60k amid heavy liquidation
Bitcoin posted a 10% decline on Thursday alone, marking one of its steepest daily losses in recent months. The sell-off wiped out more than $350 billion from the total cryptocurrency market capitalization within hours, underscoring the scale of panic-driven selling.
Data from CoinGlass shows that the downturn triggered $2.62 billion in liquidations across leveraged positions. Long traders bore the brunt of the losses, with $2.14 billion liquidated, while short positions accounted for $465 million. The single largest liquidation occurred on Binance, where a trader lost $12.02 million on the BTC-USDT pair.
The aggressive unwind in leverage has pushed Bitcoin’s derivatives Open Interest (OI) down to $95.73 billion, extending a steady decline from its October 7 peak of $233.50 billion. The long-to-short ratio, currently at 0.9594, indicates that bearish positions now outnumber bullish bets in the short term.
Institutional sentiment has also weakened noticeably. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded outflows of $258 million on Thursday, taking total monthly outflows beyond $500 million. This marks the third consecutive month in which ETF outflows have exceeded $6 billion, signaling reduced institutional confidence during heightened volatility.
Analysts note that until leverage is further flushed out and volatility stabilizes, Bitcoin is likely to continue trading in line with broader risk assets rather than acting as a defensive hedge.
On the BTC/USD 4-hour chart, the sharp sell-off has created an inefficient price structure. Bitcoin has left an efficiency gap near the $72,900 region, which bears may attempt to revisit to absorb liquidity before any further downside.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading near $65,650, down 7.9% in the last 24 hours. If the correction deepens and the efficiency level is ignored, prices could slide toward the weekly support near $54,800.
Momentum indicators remain deeply bearish. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) stands at 23, placing Bitcoin firmly in oversold territory. Meanwhile, the MACD has maintained a bearish crossover since January, reinforcing downside pressure.
Can Bitcoin recover?
Despite the severity of the correction, analysts do not rule out a short-term recovery following the aggressive leverage flush. Oversold conditions could support a rebound, with $72,000–$73,000 emerging as a key recovery zone if buying interest returns.
For now, however, Bitcoin and the broader crypto market remain vulnerable, with traders closely watching whether risk sentiment stabilizes or further downside unfolds.