Bitcoin breaks below $60,000 as selling pressure accelerates

Key Points

Bitcoin dropped below $60,000 amid heavy selling and deteriorating market sentiment.
Strategy's surprise Bitcoin sale and continued ETF outflows have weakened investor confidence.
Billions of dollars in liquidations have amplified downside volatility across crypto markets.
Higher interest-rate expectations are creating additional headwinds for speculative assets.
Market attention is now focused on whether Bitcoin can stabilize near current levels or continue to trend lower.

Bitcoin fell below the $60,000 mark on June 5, dropping to its lowest level since late 2024 as a combination of institutional selling, ETF withdrawals, liquidation events, and macroeconomic concerns weighed heavily on the cryptocurrency market.

The decline marks a sharp reversal from Bitcoin's record run in October 2025, when the asset reached an all-time high of $126,080. Since that peak, Bitcoin has lost more than half of its value and has struggled to regain momentum, and it has spent much of the past several months trading within a broad consolidation range before the latest breakdown.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading near $60,500 after falling more than 5% over the previous 24 hours. Weekly losses approached 18% to 20%, making it one of the cryptocurrency's worst drops since the October correction.

Strategy's Bitcoin sale raises question marks

One of the most talked-about topics of the week was Strategy's Bitcoin sale, the company led by Michael Saylor and long regarded as Bitcoin's largest corporate buyer.

On June 1, Strategy disclosed that it sold 32 Bitcoin for approximately $2.5 million during the final week of May. Even though the amount sold was a tiny fraction of the company's holdings, the announcement attracted significant attention because it marked the company's first Bitcoin sale since 2022.

The sale reduced Strategy's holdings to 843,706 BTC and raised concerns among investors who had viewed the company as a consistent source of demand throughout previous market cycles. The disclosure arrived during an already fragile period for digital assets and contributed to growing uncertainty across the market.

ETF outflows continue to drain demand

Institutional demand has also weakened considerably in recent weeks. U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded net outflows of approximately $2.43 billion during May. The trend accelerated at the beginning of June, with another $1.40 billion leaving the products during the opening days of the month.

The continued withdrawals suggest that large investors remain cautious despite Bitcoin's sharp decline from its highs. Reduced ETF demand has removed a major source of buying support that helped drive the cryptocurrency higher throughout previous phases of the bull market. At the same time, investors have shifted capital toward artificial intelligence-related equities, a sector that has continued attracting significant investor attention while crypto assets have struggled to regain momentum.

Liquidations amplify the sell-off

The decline in Bitcoin's price triggered a wave of forced liquidations across derivatives markets. Over two days, roughly $3 billion worth of leveraged positions were wiped out, including approximately $1.7 billion within a single 24-hour window. As prices fell, traders using borrowed funds were forced to close positions, creating additional selling pressure and accelerating the downturn.

Open interest across Bitcoin futures markets also declined sharply, falling 8.5% to roughly $111.4 billion. The drop suggests traders were exiting positions rather than opening new bullish bets, a sign that confidence has weakened during the current correction.

Macroeconomic and market headwinds intensify

The cryptocurrency market is also facing pressure from broader economic developments.

Recent U.S. employment data came in stronger than expected, prompting investors to reassess the outlook for monetary policy. Expectations for interest-rate cuts have faded, while concerns about future rate increases have returned to financial markets.

Higher interest rates typically reduce demand for speculative assets by increasing borrowing costs and strengthening yields available in traditional investments.

The shift in expectations has weighed on equities as well, with major stock indexes losing momentum after reaching record highs earlier in the year. As risk appetite weakened across financial markets, cryptocurrencies faced additional selling pressure.

Meanwhile, renewed discussions surrounding artificial intelligence and quantum computing have introduced fresh uncertainty for parts of the digital asset sector. Zcash experienced a sharp decline of up to 50% after a critical four-year-old vulnerability in its Orchard privacy pool was uncovered with the assistance of Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8, marking one of the first confirmed cases of a frontier AI model discovering a critical cryptographic flaw.

Long-term forecasts remain divided

Despite the ongoing correction, some institutions continue to maintain constructive long-term views on Bitcoin. Standard Chartered's Global Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoffrey Kendrick, recently reiterated the bank's expectation that Bitcoin could reach $100,000 by the end of 2026. Kendrick suggested that the current sell-off may eventually ease even though the market is experiencing significant pressure from institutional selling and investment fund outflows.

Daniel Reis-Faria, CEO of ZeroStack, said continued weakness in sentiment could open the door for Bitcoin to test levels closer to $54,000 if selling pressure persists. For now, Bitcoin remains trapped between deteriorating market sentiment and hopes that long-term adoption trends will eventually support another recovery attempt.