Bitcoin narrowly avoids falling under $60,000 as it bounces off lows

Bitcoin bounced off its recent low on Friday after narrowly avoiding falling below the key $60,000 mark, but some market commentators suggested there’s more selling to come.

Late on Thursday, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency fell below $61,000 and hovered just above the $60,000 mark. As of 7:50 a.m. ET on Friday, Bitcoin was recovering slightly, trading at $66,326.78.

A number of factors have contributed to the bitcoin bear market, which began after bitcoin hit a record high above $126,000 in October.

The sell-off comes amid a continued drop in tech stocks in the U.S. Bitcoin has often been correlated with risk assets like tech stocks in the U.S. and fall when they do.

Meanwhile, other assets such as gold and silver have been very volatile, adding to turmoil in the markets.

Forced liquidations — when traders’ positions are automatically sold as bitcoin hits a set price — continue to push the crypto market lower. On Thursday, there were more than $2 billion worth of long and short positions on crypto that were liquidated, according to Coinglass data. That figure was almost $800 million on Friday.

Meanwhile, there are signs that large institutional investors are selling their holdings.

U.S. exchange-traded funds, which purchased 46,000 bitcoin this time last year, are net sellers in 2026, CryptoQuant said.

“Institutional investors are really unwinding their cryptocurrency holdings,” Markus Thielen, head of research at 10X Research, told CNBC’s “Access Middle East.”

Thielen said that the average price people paid for bitcoin via an ETF is $90,000, and those investors are “materially in losses now.”

“These large outflows [are] during U.S. trading hours with those investors throwing in the towel,” he added.

Bitcoin now sits more than 40% off its all-time high. Other digital coins have fared worse. Ether and XRP are more than 60% lower than their record highs, while Solana is off by more than 70%.

Market analysts said that bitcoin’s drop below $70,000 could signal further downside.

Meanwhile, 10X Research estimates bitcoin could go as low as $50,000, after a potential small bounce soon, Thielen said.

“I think we are going to have a little counter-trend rally that might go sideways or bounce a little bit,” Thielen said. “But I think during the summer we make another low.”