Altcoins and DeFi were hit hardest, though pockets of strength emerged in tokens like DCR and HYPE, while investors rotated toward bitcoin and stablecoins.
Thursday’s selloff was one of the sharpest and most devastating in crypto market history: More than $2.6 billion was liquidated as bitcoin BTC$66,263.80 tumbled to $60,000 to mark its lowest point since October 2024.
The drawdown led to bitcoin being the third most “oversold” in its history, according to the relative strength index (RSI), a momentum oscillator that tracks market conditions. Oversold conditions of this magnitude historically precede a major bounce.
The situation grew a bit brighter as Asia woke up, with bitcoin bouncing from $60,000 to above $65,000 while ether ETH$1,925.32 came off a low of $1,750 to trade back at $1,920.
Even so, the broader crypto market remains in a bear market. Privacy coin zcash ZEC$228.03 has lost 34% of its value over the past week, while optimism OP$0.1733, solana SOL$81.14 and ether are all dealing with losses of around 30%.
Traditional markets have also struggled in recent days. The Nasdaq 100 index dropped 6% since Jan. 28, and precious metals gold and silver are down by 12% and 38%, respectively, over the same period.
