Bitcoin Loses Over $6,000 in One of Its Worst Single-Day Crashes In History

Bitcoin has fallen for the fourth consecutive trading session after losing over $6,500 in the past 24 hours, down 11 percent from $60,182 to $53,600 on Friday. At 2 PM today, the flagship cryptocurrency was down 8.1 percent, reaching its lowest level since February 2024, and was trading around $54,300. At 5 PM, it was trading at $55,335, still down 4.28 percent since Thursday. Bitcoin is now down about 25 percent from its record high in March 2024. Initial excitement over US exchange-traded funds investing directly in Bitcoin has shifted to fears of prolonged high interest rates and political uncertainties. Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $73,798 in March, driven by strong demand for the first US ETFs linked to the top coin. However, inflows have since slowed, dragging Bitcoin and the broader digital asset market down. The approval of US ETFs for Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, is pending, but interest may cool off if the sell-off continues. According to data by Coinglass, over $800 million in bullish crypto positions have been liquidated in the past three days, marking one of the most significant liquidations since April 2024.