BTC plunges to 60k. What’s fueling the selloff, and how low can BTC go?

Bitcoin has fallen sharply this week, slipping below 60,000 for the first time since October 2024. The largest cryptocurrency has plunged 10% in the past 24 hours, is down 21% over the past seven days, and is down by more than 50% from its record high of 126,000 reached in October last year. 

The sell-off is not limited to Bitcoin, with Ethereum trading almost 12% lower over 24 hours, down 31% across the past week and 60% from its 2025 high. The total crypto market cap has plunged 9% in 24 hours to $2.22 trillion, down over a trillion dollars in just a few weeks. 

 U.S. tech stocks decline as AI concerns persist. 

This latest decline coincides with a steep drop in tech stocks. The NASDAQ trades 4% lower across the week, driven by AI worries. While concerns about AI’s impact on software companies dragged the tech-heavy NASDAQ lower at the start of the week, concerns about massive AI spending and returns on that investment are weighing on the tech sector throughout the second half of the week. Amazon is set to open 10% lower today after forecasting a $200 billion AI spend in the coming year, a third higher than what Wall Street was anticipating. 

The crypto selloff is an extension of the tech selloff, but amplified by crypto’s high beta, which makes it more sensitive to market movements. 

Sentiment crashes 

The level of pessimism toward the crypto market is evident, with the Fear and Greed index at 9, indicating extreme fear. The index is at its lowest level since June 2022, when market sentiment tumbled following the collapse of the Terra blockchain a month earlier. 

Institutional demand for Bitcoin has also dropped sharply. Bitcoin ETFs saw $434 million in net outflows on Thursday, marking the third straight day of net outflows and putting BTC on track for net outflows of $689.2 million across the week, the third consecutive week of net outflows. 

Part of the cycle? 

For long-term crypto watchers, none of this is new. Bitcoin has endured repeated collapses over the past decade. 

In 2014, following the hack of Mt Gox exchange, BTC prices plunged. In 2018, fears surrounding speculative activity in initial coin offerings sent Bitcoin over 70% lower, and in the 2021-2022 crash, regulatory pressures and the collapse of FTX triggered a steep sell-off. 

Each time Bitcoin recovered, it typically did so within 12 to 18 months. Whether this downturn proves to be similar depends on broader market sentiment. 

A key question is whether the market has actually bottomed. Early bottoming signals include investor profit taking, signs of seller exhaustion, and the asset being deeply oversold. 

Historically, Bitcoin bear markets have followed a pattern of deep but shrinking declines. If this trend continues, a potential bottom for 2026 could be closer to a 70% decline from the 126k all-time high, which would place BTC around 38K. 

According to Glassnode data, more than 9.3 million BTC are underwater, the highest level since January 2023. Bitcoin has also fallen below its estimated electricity cost, making mining less profitable at approximately 77 K, thereby increasing capitulation risk. This, combined with ongoing institutional selling, suggests that today’s 4% intraday bounce could be another fakeout before further declines. 

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