The price of bitcoin briefly dipped below $63,000 on Friday as investors reduced risk amid a sell-off in technology stocks related to AI and a new wave of tension between the United States of America and Iran. The cryptocurrency came under pressure along with stock indices, although one technical indicator already shows the market approaching oversold territory ahead of the weekend.
Main Takeaways
- Bitcoin: down about 1.2% amid a sell-off in chipmaker stocks in Asia and North America.
- Ethereum: down about 1.74%, weaker than bitcoin over the same period.
- Gold: up above $4,000 as investors moved into safe-haven assets.
- The total cryptocurrency market capitalization fell by 1.86% to $2.16 trillion, with pressure felt not only in the BTC / USD pair but also among major altcoins.
- ZEC: up 1.56%, category — privacy coins.
- DASH: up 0.78%, category — privacy coins.
- FET: up about 0.20%, category — AI-related tokens.
- TAO: up about 0.20%, category — AI-related tokens.
- The average relative strength index for crypto pairs fell to 42.23. This is close to oversold levels, after which there was already a rebound in July.
Why Bitcoin Came Under Pressure Again
Bitcoin managed to partially recover from the drop below $63,000, but at the time of the update was trading about 1.2% below the start-of-day level in Coordinated Universal Time. Ether, or Ethereum, looked weaker and lost about 1.74%.
The decline was not a local story for the crypto market. Nasdaq 100 futures fell by 1.91%, and S&P 500 contracts dropped by 0.96%. This pointed to a broad macroeconomic impulse, not a problem limited to blockchain assets. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index dropped 4%, while the South Korean Kospi exchange was closed for Constitution Day.
Amid the flight from risk, the dollar index rose to 100.75. The US dollar strengthened as a safe-haven currency, and gold added 0.61% and again held above $4,000.
Sellers were pressured by several factors at once:
- Sell-off in technology stocks in North America.
- Sell-off in technology stocks in Asia.
- Tensions in the Middle East, causing market participants to be more cautious with high-volatility assets.
The market is ending the week under double pressure: AI fatigue and tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, noted Patrick Mannelli of Tickmill Group. According to him, the sell-off in semiconductors has already shifted from routine profit-taking to position reduction, dragging Asian markets to multi-month lows.
At the same time, bulls still have one working argument. The relative strength index for crypto pairs has dropped to 42.23, which is close to the area where the market previously found support. This does not guarantee a reversal, but it reduces the likelihood that sellers can continue pressure without a pause.
Derivatives: Sellers More Active, but No Panic Seen
- The ratio of long to short positions in the crypto futures market, as measured by the volume of aggressive buys and sells, fell to 0.94. This is the lowest level since June 2.
- This figure reflects which side is more willing to execute trades at the current market price. Sellers are now more active, which coincides with the price drop over the past 24 hours.
- Daily trading volume decreased by 4% to about $163 billion, while total open interest remained almost unchanged at about $111 billion. In other words, there is pressure, but it does not yet look like a mass exit from the market.
- Open interest in BTC fell to 747,000 BTC after yesterday’s high of 755,000 BTC. A similar picture was seen in ETH, XRP, and SOL futures: positions either barely changed or declined moderately.
- This suggests that large futures on tokens are not yet showing signs of aggressive new short positions or panic closing of trades due to margin calls. The decline remains fairly orderly.
- HYPE stood out: open interest in it rose by almost 2%, while the spot price fell by 8%. This combination often indicates the opening of new short positions and confirms price weakness.
- HYPE also had one of the most negative 24-hour cumulative volume deltas among major tokens, comparable to DOGE. A negative value shows that sellers acted aggressively and entered the market at current prices rather than waiting for limit orders to be filled.
- The overall market picture also remained bearish: most coins, including BTC and ETH, showed a negative cumulative volume delta for the day.
- Meanwhile, 30-day implied volatility for bitcoin and ether remained near recent lows. Despite the drop in spot prices, traders have not yet rushed to buy options or hedge positions en masse.
- For ether, one trader or group of traders recently bought large straddles, betting on a strong price move by July 24.
- By volume, three of the five most popular ETH contracts are now put options, which protect against a decline in the underlying asset. However, the $2,100 strike call remained the most traded contract over the past 24 hours. For bitcoin, the main favorite among traders was the $62,500 strike put.
Which Tokens Outperformed the Market
Lighter with the LIT token was among the leaders in declines on Thursday: the asset lost 3.55% and fell to $2.195. The pressure looked like profit-taking after a sharp rise of more than 200% from May to early July.
Privacy coins, on the other hand, stood out from the overall weak trend. ZEC rose 1.56% to $531, and DASH added 0.78%. Both assets maintained the relative strength they had shown in recent weeks.
AI tokens also did not collapse along with the tech sentiment in the stock market. FET and TAO each added about 0.20%, although the sector has struggled to maintain steady momentum since mid-June.
The CoinMarketCap altcoin season indicator returned to 53 out of 100. This highlights that bitcoin temporarily looked weaker than a number of altcoin pairs, despite the overall investor flight from risk.
Context for Investors
It is important for the market that bitcoin is still seen as a risky asset, especially during periods when investors reduce positions in technology sectors. On major platforms like Coinbase and Binance, such shifts in sentiment are quickly visible in several areas:
- Liquidity becomes thinner or, conversely, quickly returns when demand rises.
- Order books show where market participants are willing to buy and sell the asset.
- Futures dynamics help understand whether selling pressure is increasing.
Bitcoin remains a digital asset that emerged as an alternative to traditional financial infrastructure. A bank transaction goes through intermediaries, while a transfer on the Bitcoin network works differently: the blockchain records operations in a distributed system where a peer-to-peer network replaces a single clearing center. Miners collect transactions into new blocks, confirm them, and receive rewards in BTC along with user fees. In this model, the central bank does not act as the issuer or payment confirmer.
The idea associated with Satoshi Nakamoto grew at the intersection of cryptography, economics, and computer science. Therefore, even on days of high volatility, investors look not only at price but also at how demand for the network itself is changing, at the asset’s liquidity, and at the behavior of the derivatives market.
The word “coin” in the crypto market is often used as a shorthand for a particular digital currency, but the current session showed: in periods of global risk reduction, the differences between segments fade. Pressure affects both the largest assets and second-tier tokens, and the resilience of individual coins becomes more the exception than the rule.
What Drives the Price of Bitcoin
- Supply and demand: the more active the buyers and the fewer coins available on the market, the stronger the price support.
- Regulation: decisions by authorities and regulators can quickly change investors’ risk appetite.
- News: major events around exchanges, funds, companies, and infrastructure often increase volatility.
- Macroeconomics: the dollar, interest rates, stock indices, and demand for safe-haven assets affect risk appetite.
- Technological updates: changes in the network and infrastructure can affect market participants’ confidence.
Where to Buy and How to Store Bitcoin
Bitcoin is most often bought on major crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Binance. The basic path is simple: create an account, fund it, choose a trading pair with BTC, buy the asset, and if necessary, withdraw it to a personal wallet.
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- A hot wallet is convenient for quick operations and frequent trading but is more dependent on the security of the device or service.
- A cold wallet is suitable for long-term storage and is better isolated from online risks but requires careful handling of keys and backup phrases.
