This week was defined by one dominant story: a sharp, broad based selloff that pulled Bitcoin below $60,000 for the first time since 2024 and dragged nearly the entire market down with it. A stronger than expected US jobs report delivered the final blow on Friday, compounding weeks of heavy ETF outflows, a rotation of capital into artificial intelligence, and renewed Middle East tensions. Together these forces erased hundreds of billions in value. Beneath the price action, regulation kept advancing in Washington, infrastructure money kept flowing toward AI, and security incidents reminded the market where the real risks now sit.
Bitcoin Suffered Its Worst Week in Months
Bitcoin Slid Below $60,000 to Its Lowest Level Since 2024
Bitcoin began the month near $73,500 and then fell in almost every session, sliding through one support level after another. The $68,000 floor broke first, $65,000 gave way next, and by Friday Bitcoin had cracked below $60,000 for the first time since 2024, touching an intraday low near $59,100 before stabilizing in the high $59,000s. The move left Bitcoin down roughly 18 to 20 percent on the week and more than 50 percent below the all time high near $126,000 that it set in October 2025.
The speed of the decline mattered as much as the size. In a clear sign of how deep the damage ran, Bitcoin also broke below its 200 week moving average for the first time since the 2022 bear market, a long term trend line that has historically marked major cycle bottoms. Each broken support level flipped into overhead resistance on the way down, and the market is now watching whether $60,000 can be reclaimed or whether $59,000 and below becomes the next battleground.
More Than $1 Billion in Liquidations Hit Leveraged Traders
As prices fell, the forced selling accelerated. More than one billion dollars in leveraged positions were wiped out within 24 hours, with Friday alone accounting for roughly $1.4 billion of the damage and over $155 million in long positions liquidated in a single hour around the break of $60,000. The overwhelming majority of these liquidations came from long positions, meaning traders who had bet on higher prices were the ones caught offside.
This is the mechanism that turns an ordinary pullback into a violent one. When leveraged longs are liquidated, their positions are sold into a falling market, which pushes prices lower and triggers the next batch of liquidations in a cascade. That feedback loop was a major reason the week’s decline became so severe so quickly.
Extreme Fear Took Over Market Sentiment
Sentiment collapsed alongside the price. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index sank deep into extreme fear territory, reaching some of its lowest readings of the year. Interestingly, on chain data began to show signs often associated with late stage capitulation, including the share of holders in profit falling to levels that have coincided with major cycle lows in the past. That offers no guarantee of a bottom, but it does show how emotional the market became this week.
What Drove the Selloff
A Hot Jobs Report Delivered the Final Blow
The sharpest leg down came on Friday after a much stronger than expected US employment report. The economy added 172,000 nonfarm payrolls in May, far above expectations of around 85,000, while the unemployment rate held at 4.3 percent and the prior two months were revised higher by a combined 93,000 jobs. Strong labor data reduces the case for Federal Reserve rate cuts and even revives talk of further tightening, which is bad news for risk assets that depend on cheaper money. The reaction was immediate and broad, with US equities also selling off hard as the S&P 500 shed close to $2 trillion in value within hours of the release.
Record ETF Outflows Set the Stage
Before the jobs report, the clearest pressure had come from institutions heading for the exits. US spot Bitcoin exchange traded funds extended one of the longest outflow streaks since the products launched, with cumulative withdrawals reaching roughly $4.4 billion over 13 trading days. Notably, that streak finally broke late in the week with a small net inflow, a tentative sign that some buyers were beginning to step in even as the price kept falling. Spot Ethereum ETFs were under pressure too, adding to the sense that large players had been quietly reducing risk well ahead of the worst of the drop.
Capital Rotated Out of Crypto and Into AI
A recurring theme this week was that crypto’s pain was partly Wall Street’s gain elsewhere. Several prominent voices, including Mati Greenspan, Michael Saylor, and Jameson Lopp, pointed to the artificial intelligence boom as a force draining capital away from Bitcoin. Saylor defended his company’s corporate Bitcoin strategy and framed the weakness as a temporary capital rotation toward a roughly $400 billion AI infrastructure buildout. With investors chasing AI equities and new listings, risk capital that might once have flowed into crypto found a more fashionable home. Renewed Middle East tensions, including reports that Hezbollah rejected a ceasefire offer from Israel, kept the overall mood defensive throughout the week.
Altcoins Felt the Pressure Even Harder
Ethereum, XRP, and Solana Dropped Sharply
The major altcoins fell harder than Bitcoin in percentage terms. Ethereum slid from above $2,000 at the start of the month to around $1,555, a drop of roughly 23 percent on the week. Solana fell about 22 percent over seven days to near $63, and XRP came under heavy selling as well. When Bitcoin breaks down this fast, higher risk assets tend to amplify the move, and that is exactly what played out across the altcoin market this week.
Cardano Fell to Four Year Lows
Cardano was among the weakest large caps, with ADA falling under 20 cents to its lowest level in four years. The decline came as founder Charles Hoskinson warned of a coming wave of failures across the ecosystem. Notably, on chain data showed Cardano’s social activity and active addresses spiking even as the price fell, a reminder that attention often peaks precisely when sentiment is at its worst.
Regulation Kept Moving in Washington
Coinbase Won Approval for Crypto Perpetual Futures
In a meaningful structural development, the CFTC cleared the way for Coinbase to offer crypto perpetual futures to US traders. Perpetual futures dominate crypto derivatives volume across offshore markets, and bringing the product onshore through a regulated US venue could attract institutional liquidity and give American traders access to tools that were previously out of reach. It also arrives at a moment when leverage and liquidations are very much in focus, which makes responsible risk management more important than ever.
A House Bill Targeted Lawmakers in Prediction Markets
On the policy front, a new House bill aimed to bar lawmakers from participating in crypto prediction markets, part of a broader push to address conflicts of interest as digital assets become more entangled with politics. This sits alongside the ongoing progress of the wider CLARITY Act framework, which continues to work its way toward a full Senate floor debate after clearing committee earlier this spring. Crypto regulation is no longer a side issue in Washington, and each step is being watched closely by the industry.
Infrastructure and Security Made Headlines
A Canadian Miner Raised Billions for an NVIDIA Leased Data Center
The AI narrative showed up directly in crypto infrastructure too. A Canadian Bitcoin miner that has pivoted toward AI data centers raised roughly four times its original $4.25 billion target to fund a large facility in Texas. The entire 352 megawatt high density site has reportedly been leased to NVIDIA, a striking example of how mining companies are repositioning their power and infrastructure to serve the AI compute boom rather than Bitcoin alone.
A Zcash Vulnerability Shook Confidence
Security worries added to the week’s pressure when a vulnerability surfaced in Zcash, the privacy focused coin, prompting an emergency response from its development team. Incidents like this matter beyond the affected token, because they chip away at broader confidence in blockchain security at exactly the moment when nervous investors are already looking for reasons to step back.
Bridge Exploits Topped $340 Million for the Year
Researchers also issued a sobering reminder of where crypto’s structural vulnerabilities lie. A report from blockchain security firm PeckShield showed that hackers have drained more than $340 million from cross chain bridge protocols across roughly 14 major exploits so far in 2026. Bridges remain the single most targeted infrastructure in the space because they lock large pools of liquidity in smart contracts, making them the highest value and highest risk target in all of DeFi. For traders moving assets across chains, the lesson is to treat bridges with caution and limit exposure where possible.
Conclusion: A Week Where Fear Outran the Fundamentals
This week showed how quickly sentiment can flip in crypto. Bitcoin fell below $60,000 to its lowest level since 2024, broke a long term trend line that had held since the last bear market, and saw more than a billion dollars in leveraged bets liquidated as record ETF outflows, an AI driven capital rotation, Middle East tensions, and finally a hot jobs report converged at once. The Fear and Greed Index sank into extreme fear, and the market spent the week searching for a floor rather than a catalyst.
Yet underneath the price action, the longer term build continued. ETF outflows showed early signs of stabilizing, regulation advanced through new derivatives approvals and fresh legislative activity, mining infrastructure kept flowing toward the AI economy, and security researchers sharpened the industry’s focus on its weakest points. The week’s message was familiar but worth repeating: short term fear and long term progress can, and often do, run side by side.
Markets can change quickly, and weeks like this one are a reminder of why managing risk and sizing positions sensibly matter more than chasing any single move. None of this is financial advice, so always do your own research through the Millionero Blog before making a decision. Trade on Millionero exchange.
This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Trading cryptocurrencies carries significant risk, and leveraged trading can result in the loss of your entire investment. Always do your own research before making any trading decision.