Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) dropped sharply on Thursday, falling close to the $70,000 mark as reduced market liquidity and a widespread sell-off in global technology stocks placed renewed pressure on risk-sensitive assets.
The leading cryptocurrency was down 7.6% at $70,427.1 as of 00:28 ET (05:28 GMT), marking its lowest level since early November 2024. During the session, bitcoin briefly touched an intraday low of $70,129.6.
Bitcoin has now posted losses in seven of the past eight trading sessions and has fallen more than 40% from its record high near $126,000 reached in October.
Liquidity pressures and tech stock sell-off drive decline
Market data indicated that liquidity conditions had weakened significantly, intensifying price swings and accelerating forced liquidations after bitcoin fell through key technical levels.
The decline followed heavy selling in global technology stocks overnight, driven by investor concerns over the cost and pace of artificial intelligence expansion, as well as rising capital expenditure by major technology companies.
Losses in U.S. technology shares extended into Asian markets and spilled over into digital assets, which have increasingly moved in line with high-growth equities during periods of market volatility.
Selling pressure intensified as leveraged positions were unwound, particularly in derivatives markets. Bitcoin’s drop below the $75,000 level triggered widespread stop-loss orders, adding to downward momentum.
Data from crypto analytics platform CoinGlass showed that nearly $770 million in cryptocurrency positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours.
Broader macroeconomic factors also contributed to the decline, with the U.S. dollar strengthening and global bond yields rising, both of which tend to reduce investor appetite for higher-risk assets.
Traditional safe-haven assets also faced pressure, highlighting fragile liquidity across financial markets. Silver prices fell sharply during Asian trading, dropping nearly 17% and erasing recent gains, while gold also weakened.
Investor sentiment toward cryptocurrencies has worsened following weeks of volatile trading and repeated unsuccessful attempts to sustain upward price momentum.
Altcoins follow bitcoin lower
Most major alternative cryptocurrencies also recorded losses during Thursday’s sell-off.
Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, fell 7.4% to $2,098.92. XRP, the third-largest token, dropped 10% to $1.42.
Solana declined 6%, Cardano fell 5%, and Polygon dropped 3.2%.
Among meme-themed cryptocurrencies, Dogecoin slid 6%, while the $TRUMP token lost 3.5%.