Crypto market sentiment sank to its lowest level in more than three and a half years as bitcoin slid sharply toward $60,000.
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to 9 out of 100 on Friday, a level last seen in June 2022 following the Terra collapse.
Sentiment hits extreme fear
Bitcoin has fallen 38% from its 2026 high near $97,000 in roughly three weeks, erasing gains from the past 16 months.
The move coincided with a deep drop in risk appetite across crypto markets as the sentiment gauge remained depressed for about two weeks.
Bitcoin drops on Coinbase
Bitcoin fell to a little over $60,000 on Coinbase in early Friday trading, its lowest level since October 2024.
It later traded just above $64,000 after falling 13% over the past 24 hours, marking its largest daily loss since mid-2022.
Bitcoin also slipped below the 200-week exponential moving average, a long-term trend indicator.
It is about 50% down from its all-time high of $126,000 in early October.
Liquidations surge
Over the past 24 hours, more than 588,000 traders were liquidated for $2.7 billion.
CoinGlass data showed about 85% of those liquidations were leveraged longs, predominantly in bitcoin.
Tech selloff and Fed caution
Jeff Ko, chief analyst at CoinEx Research, tied bitcoin’s weekly drawdown to a selloff in US tech stocks amid concerns about stretched valuations and an AI-driven bubble.
Ko said:
“Investors are increasingly reassessing Bitcoin’s failure to function as a safe haven compared to gold.”
LVRG Research director Nick Ruck attributed the broader decline to heightened risk aversion linked to softer US job market signals and expectations of Federal Reserve caution on aggressive rate cuts.
Bitcoin’s break below the long-term trend line also puts focus on the 200-week moving average.
