Bitcoin drifted lower on Thursday to $66,231, continuing to consolidate within the $60,000-$72,000 range that has defined price action since the early February breakdown. The 24-hour session saw BTC trade between $65,088 and $68,399, with perpetual funding rates remaining neutral — a sign that the leveraged long squeeze that triggered the initial crash from $70,000+ has largely exhausted itself. Volume across the top 30 perpetual contracts totaled $3.27 billion for BTC alone, still elevated relative to pre-correction levels.
The macro backdrop remains the dominant driver. Bitcoin has been effectively trading as a high-beta tech proxy rather than a safe-haven asset, with its correlation to the Nasdaq intensifying as the AI-driven equity rotation continues. The Nasdaq dropped 2.03% on Thursday after Cisco’s 12% plunge on weak guidance, and BTC followed suit. Meanwhile, gold at $4,977 and silver at $78.55 sold off sharply (silver down 6.22%), suggesting the recent precious metals rally is also taking a breather — removing one of the few cross-asset tailwinds crypto had enjoyed.
The ETF flow picture is cautiously constructive. After $5.7 billion in cumulative outflows from November through January, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded back-to-back inflows of $616 million on February 7-10 — the first consecutive positive days in a month. Ark Invest and Fidelity led the buying. However, total BTC held in ETFs is still down only 6% from October’s peak despite a 47% price decline, indicating that the majority of ETF holders are sitting on losses but not capitulating. This “diamond hands” behavior creates a higher floor but also means any catalyst for renewed outflows could trigger a waterfall toward the $60,000 support.
Among altcoins, the session was mixed with a clear risk-off tilt. Berachain (BERA) fell 17% as post-launch selling pressure intensified, Magic Eden (ME) dropped 12% on weak NFT volume metrics, and LayerZero (ZRO) shed nearly 11%. On the upside, Clore.ai (CLO) surged 48% on AI-compute narrative momentum, and meme tokens RIVER and MOODENG posted double-digit gains — a pattern typical of bear-market micro-bubbles where speculative capital concentrates in low-cap tokens while majors drift.
