Bitcoin Drops Below $62k Triggering $1.5B Liquidations; Presto Links to Fed Rate Cut Expectations
Bitcoin briefly plunged below $62,000 on Thursday morning Hong Kong time, triggering over $1.5 billion in leveraged crypto liquidations in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data. More than 208,000 traders were liquidated, with bitcoin accounting for over $800 million of the losses and ether another $386 million. The sell-off coincided with continued weakness in institutional demand, as investors pulled approximately $1 billion from U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs this week, extending a record streak of net outflows according to SoSoValue. Presto Research argued in a note that bitcoin's drawdowns this year have coincided with rallies in gold and AI stocks as markets scale back expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts. The firm suggests that bitcoin's recovery may depend less on crypto-specific catalysts and more on easing inflation concerns and a renewed shift toward liquidity-sensitive assets. Analysts also note that traders are rotating out of crypto into high-flying IPOs and AI stocks, chasing momentum rather than responding to crypto-specific events.
Key facts
- Bitcoin fell below $62k, triggering $1.5B in crypto liquidations.
- 208k+ traders liquidated; BTC and ETH accounted for $1.19B of losses.
- $1B pulled from US spot bitcoin ETFs this week, extending outflow record.
- Presto links BTC drawdowns to rallies in gold and AI stocks on Fed rate cut expectations.
- Recovery may depend on easing inflation and shift to liquidity-sensitive assets.