Investing.com-- Bitcoin price tumbled to a more than five-month low on Monday, tracking a broader decline in financial markets as growing fears of a U.S. economic slowdown battered risk appetite.
Bitcoin slid 18% in the past 24 hours to $50,061.0 by 09:04 ET (13:04 GMT). The token was at its weakest level since late February, largely wiping out a rally sparked by the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in March.
Bitcoin slides in tandem with steep equity losses
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency slid tracking steep losses in equity markets since Friday, as a swathe of weak economic readings from the U.S. pushed up concerns over a potential recession. Wall Street indexes tumbled on Friday, while Asian markets logged steep losses on Monday with Japanese stocks entering a bear market just three weeks after marking record highs.
Bitcoin- along with broader crypto markets- was hit particularly hard by the risk-off sentiment, given its highly speculative nature.
Heightened expectations of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve did little to stem Bitcoin’s decline, with traders largely sticking to the Japanese yen and gold as safe havens.
The US Dollar Index logged deeper losses against the Japanese yen.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency was already nursing sharp declines over the past week after the U.S. government was seen mobilizing about $2 billion of tokens, heralding a potential sale.
Waning trading volumes in the crypto derivatives market- particularly in U.S. ETFs- also provided little support to the token.
Uncertainty over the outlook for U.S. regulation also weighed on crypto markets, especially as recent Bloomberg polling data saw Democratic frontrunner Kamala Harris catching up with Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Amidst the sell-off, crypto futures saw over $1 billion in liquidations within the last 24 hours, mainly due to a strengthening Japanese yen and rumors that Jump Trading might be shutting down its crypto operations.
Data reveals that Ether futures experienced over $340 million in liquidations, while Bitcoin futures led the losses with $420 million. Futures tied to Solana’s SOL, Dogecoin, XRP, and Pepe collectively saw $75 million in liquidations.
More than 275,000 traders faced liquidations, with the largest single liquidation order occurring on Huobi, involving a BTC/USD trade worth $27 million. Approximately 87% of the affected traders had long positions, betting on rising prices.
The market downturn caused the crypto fear and greed index to signal "fear," hitting its lowest point since early July. This index monitors volatility, prices, and social media activity to gauge market sentiment, with "fear" often suggesting a local bottom and "greed" indicating market peaks.
Crypto price today: Ether plummets to December lows
Broader crypto markets were also battered by the risk-off sentiment. World no.2 token Ether slid over 22% to $2,265.15- its weakest level since December.
The token wiped out all gains made on recent speculation over spot Ether ETFs, whose launch last week had also provided little support to markets.
XRP, SOL and ADA slumped between 19% and 23%, while among meme tokens, DOGE and SHIB lost around 22% each.