Crypto market sentiment has plunged to its weakest point in more than three and a half years as Bitcoin slid into the low $60,000s. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index dropped to 9 out of 100 on Friday — signalling “extreme fear” and marking its lowest reading since June 2022 after the Terra collapse.
The index has been depressed for about two weeks while Bitcoin fell sharply — down 38% from a 2026 peak of $97,000 in just three weeks, erasing a year and a half of gains. On Coinbase in early trading Friday, BTC touched a little over $60,000, according to TradingView, and was trading a bit above $64,000 after a 13% 24-hour decline that wiped more than $10,000 off its price in the biggest daily drop since mid-2022.
Bitcoin has also fallen below the 200-week exponential moving average, a key long-term trend line that typically only breaks during deep bear markets. The coin sits roughly 50% below its all-time high of $126,000 reached in early October. Over the past day, CoinGlass data shows more than 588,000 traders were liquidated for about $2.7 billion — roughly 85% were leveraged longs, most in Bitcoin.
Market observers point to broader equity weakness and growing macro uncertainty. Jeff Ko, chief analyst at CoinEx Research, said Bitcoin’s more than 20% weekly drawdown coincided with a selloff in U.S. tech stocks, where stretched valuations and worries about an AI-driven bubble have pressured prices — with Amazon also posting a double-digit drop after mixed earnings. Ko added that investors are reassessing Bitcoin’s role as a safe haven compared with traditional assets like gold.
Nick Ruck, director at LVRG Research, said the cryptocurrency’s decline and the wider market pullback reflect “heightened risk aversion” amid softer U.S. labor signals, including rising unemployment claims that cast doubt on economic resilience and could make the Federal Reserve more cautious about aggressive rate cuts.
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