Bitcoin Breaks $60K: Worst Week Since FTX and What Comes Next

Bitcoin Breaks $60K: Worst Week Since FTX and What Comes Next

For the first time since October 2024 - the weeks immediately preceding Donald Trump's election victory and the rally it ignited - Bitcoin has traded below $60,000. The breach is more than a round-number headline: it marks a decisive rollover that has wiped out months of gains, reignited debate about institutional commitment to the asset, and placed Bitcoin squarely at one of the most watched technical thresholds in its history. Understanding what drove the move, and whether the structure beneath it holds, is now the central question for every market participant.

The Facts

Bitcoin slipped under the $60,000 mark on Friday afternoon, undercutting the February 6 intraday low of $60,001 recorded on Coinbase and printing levels not seen since the pre-election period of late 2024 ^[1]. The decline also means Bitcoin is currently cheaper than it was at its prior cycle peak in 2021, when the asset briefly touched $69,000 ^[1]. From the all-time high of just above $126,300 set in October 2025, the drawdown now exceeds 50% ^[1].

The selling accelerated noticeably after Strategy - formerly MicroStrategy and the largest known corporate holder of Bitcoin - disclosed on Monday that it had liquidated 32 BTC, a modest absolute number but a psychologically significant signal given the firm's reputation as an unrelenting accumulator ^[1]. From Sunday's open through Friday's session, Bitcoin was at one point down more than 18% on the week, putting it on pace for the most damaging seven-day stretch since FTX's implosion in November 2022, when BTC fell more than 22% in a single week ^[1]. The Nasdaq 100 offered no shelter, itself down roughly 3.5% on the day by Friday evening, underscoring how broadly risk appetite had deteriorated ^[1].

The macro backdrop delivered a further blow. US nonfarm payrolls for May came in at 172,000 - more than double the 85,000 consensus forecast - while April's figure was simultaneously revised upward by 64,000, making it the second-strongest jobs report in over a year ^[3]. A labor market that robust hands the Federal Reserve no compelling reason to loosen policy, and Polymarket odds on a rate hike before year-end jumped from below 40% to above 50% in direct response to the data ^[1]. Bitcoin, acutely sensitive to liquidity expectations, bore the brunt of that repricing alongside other risk assets ^{[1] [3]}.

Beyond the macro, analysts pointed to two additional structural headwinds: the ongoing AI-sector boom and a pipeline of large upcoming IPOs, both of which appear to be drawing capital away from Bitcoin and crypto more broadly ^[1]. On-chain, the liquidation of leveraged long positions created a self-reinforcing feedback loop - forced selling begetting further selling - that amplified the directional move ^[1]. Market analyst Lacie Zhang of Bitget Wallet noted that the episode had already produced a substantial wipeout of levered positioning, significantly negative funding rates, and a sharp contraction in open interest, arguing that Bitcoin may be closer to resolving this episode than equity markets are ^[2]. She flagged a potential retest of the $55,000-$57,000 band should outflows from spot ETFs continue, adding that stabilization of those flows and renewed accumulation by large holders would both be necessary conditions for a genuine recovery ^[2].

Nansen analyst Nicolai Sondergaard offered a more guarded read of the same data, observing that exchange-flow patterns suggest participants are using Bitcoin's periodic bounces - including a brief lift from around $61,000 - to trim exposure rather than add to it ^[2]. In his assessment, the ETF-driven demand narrative that powered much of Bitcoin's institutional adoption story has been quietly unwinding since May, and a durable floor will require visible re-entry by institutional buyers, not merely the absence of further selling pressure ^[2]. That debate - leverage flush versus structural demand deterioration - now defines the analytical fault line in the market.

Analysis & Context

The historical template for Bitcoin bear markets offers a sobering but also stabilizing frame. In every prior cycle, peak-to-trough drawdowns have exceeded 75%, yet each successive cycle has seen that maximum decline compress somewhat as the asset matures and its holder base broadens ^[1]. A 50% retracement from the October 2025 high, while painful, sits well within the range of what has historically constituted a mid-cycle shakeout rather than a terminal collapse. Critically, Bitcoin has recovered to new all-time highs within a few years following every such episode.

What makes this moment technically interesting is the confluence of two independent models near current prices. The 200-week moving average - which has historically aligned closely with cyclical bear-market lows, though Bitcoin traded beneath it for an extended stretch in 2022 - sits close to where BTC is trading now ^[1]. The Power Law model, which maps Bitcoin's price progression on a logarithmic scale across both price and time, places its lower channel support at approximately $58,569 ^[1]. Neither model is infallible - the Stock-to-Flow model's breakdown is a useful reminder that even widely respected frameworks can fail - but the clustering of support signals at this level is notable. If both are violated convincingly, the analytical landscape shifts considerably.

The more uncomfortable scenario is Sondergaard's: that institutional demand, rather than merely pausing, is structurally receding as capital rotates toward AI infrastructure and large-cap equity offerings. If ETF inflows do not recover alongside a stabilization in on-chain metrics, the bounce that historically follows a leverage flush may be shallower and shorter-lived than cycle veterans expect.