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BTC sees a relief bounce as Asian stocks wilt following sharp losses on Wall Street.
Major tokens are on track for third straight quarterly decline
Major cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP, and Solana (SOL) are on track to post their third consecutive quarterly loss, a feat last seen during previous bear markets.
As of this writing, BTC is down roughly 12% for the June quarter after declining 23% and 22% in the two preceding quarters. A similar three-quarter downtrend was last seen in 2022, a year marked by the collapse of several crypto funds and projects, including FTX.
Ether, the second-largest token, is down 25% for the June quarter, while XRP and SOL are down 22% and 16%, respectively. Meanwhile, HYPE and ZEC were among the few tokens posting strong gains in the lead-up to the end of June, with both up over 60%. Near Protocol’s NEAR was also up more than 50%.
Bitcoin and ether ETFs both posted six straight days of outflows
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs shed $696 million on Thursday, extending the run to six consecutive days of net redemptions. U.S. spot ether ETFs lost $81.9 million the same day, also their sixth straight day of outflows, per SoSoValue data.
The bitcoin bleed was broad. BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest fund, accounted for $63 million of the outflows, Fidelity’s FBTC shed $3.5 million, and Grayscale’s funds lost a combined $23 million. No fund posted meaningful inflows.
Among ether ETFs, BlackRock’s ETHA led with $63 million in outflows, and only Bitwise’s ETHW posted any inflow, a negligible $557,000. Total ether ETF assets have fallen to $8.3 billion, down from $10 billion at the start of the month.
Tether overtook ether to become the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization
Tether’s USDT stablecoin briefly overtook ether to become the second-largest cryptocurrency by fully diluted market value earlier Friday, according to CoinGecko.
USDT reached $191.5 billion against ether’s $187.5 billion after ETH fell 5.5% in 24 hours, leaving bitcoin the only asset ahead of the dollar-pegged stablecoin.
The milestone is less about Tether gaining ground and more about ether losing it. Ether is down more than 7% on the week as the broader crypto selloff has hit altcoins harder than bitcoin.
Over $1 billion in crypto positions were liquidated in 24 hours as longs got flushed
More than $1 billion in crypto positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, per CoinGlass, with longs accounting for $842 million of the damage. About 148,500 traders were wiped out. The largest single position was a $38 million bitcoin-dollar bet on Hyperliquid. Bitcoin led at $489 million in liquidations, ether at $295 million.
Bitcoin is trading near $59,750 on Friday morning, down 2.8% on the day and back in the $58,000 to $62,000 range it has churned through all week, per CoinDesk data.
The 24-hour low hit $58,188, uncomfortably close to the levels where another $1.6 billion in leveraged long positions are clustered, per CoinGlass.
Today’s quarter-end options expiry is the live catalyst.
A large volume of options contracts expire simultaneously at quarter-end, which can amplify moves in either direction as traders close or roll positions. How bitcoin exits the session today is likely to set the tone heading into July.
BTC recovers to $60,000 as Asian stocks tank
Bitcoin (BTC) has bounced from overnight lows amid a renewed slide in Asian equity markets.
The leading cryptocurrency by market value traded at around $59,800 as of this writing, up 2.7% from the low of $58,206 hit Thursday, according to CoinDesk data. Still, prices are down over 5% this week and nearly 20% for the month.
“Bitcoin has pulled back into the $50–60K zone, and if history is any guide, this is where buyers step in,” Gabe Selby, head of research at CF Benchmarks, said.
Selby explained that this zone was first established as support in mid-2024, when prices consolidated in this range following the U.S. spot ETF launch rally, and it’s held through everything thrown at it since: the yen carry unwind, the election cycle, and every other high-time-frame retest.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks are under pressure, with South Korea’s Kospi index down 8% and Japan’s Nikkei losing 3%. The losses follow overnight risk aversion on Wall Street where shares in Apple and other Mag7 stocks cratered after announcing price hikes for laptops, tablets and other products citing rising costs.
