Bitcoin fell below $60,000 on June 5, marking a significant loss for cryptocurrency trading as multiple headwinds converged to drive a 16% weekly decline. The flagship cryptocurrency hit a low of $59,099.25, its weakest level since October 2024, as investors grappled with a stronger-than-expected May jobs report and record-breaking liquidations across derivatives markets.
Quick Facts
- Bitcoin dropped 16% for the week, reaching $59,099.25 on Friday, June 5
- A May jobs report showing 172,000 new positions—nearly double the forecast of 85,000—sent Treasury yields higher
- Over $5.3 billion in leveraged long positions were liquidated across crypto derivatives markets since Monday
- Bitcoin ETF outflows hit a 13-day streak, the longest ever, before breaking Thursday with just $3 million net inflow
The week’s selloff began after Strategy, a major corporate Bitcoin holder, sold 32 BTC for $2.5 million—its first sale since 2022. That triggered hundreds of millions of dollars in forced liquidations and accelerated downside pressure across the market.
Losses intensified Friday morning after the U.S. labor market showed unexpected strength. The May jobs report added 172,000 positions, well above the 85,000 forecast, while unemployment held steady at 4.3%. The data shifted market expectations sharply toward the possibility of Federal Reserve rate hikes rather than cuts, lifting the 10-year Treasury yield by 6 basis points to 4.54%.
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Cryptocurrency trading faces headwinds as Bitcoin falls below $60,000
Divergence Erodes Bitcoin’s Core Narratives
Bitcoin’s traditional investment cases have fractured during the recent downturn. The cryptocurrency traded with near-perfect correlation to the Nasdaq and S&P 500 as recently as a month ago, but that relationship has collapsed in recent weeks, according to CNBC. Now Bitcoin is falling while global equities, particularly tech stocks, continue to reach new all-time highs—undermining the “high beta tech stock” narrative.
Simultaneously, Bitcoin has failed to benefit from geopolitical uncertainty, which has kept it under pressure in recent months even as stock markets rose. The divergence has investors questioning whether Bitcoin truly functions as “digital gold” in times of crisis. Charles-Henry Monchau, chief investment officer at Syz Group, attributed the decline to a combination of Strategy’s selling and a crowding-out effect from hot money chasing other assets, particularly AI stocks and memory chips.
An additional drag comes from the stalled Clarity Act, a crypto market structure bill that was seen as a potential catalyst for renewed investor interest. As legislative priorities shift and lawmakers remain divided on key provisions, the bill has drifted further out of reach.
Liquidations and Market Structure Stress
Friday alone accounted for roughly $1.4 billion of the $5.3 billion in total leveraged liquidations, according to CoinDesk. The scale of the washout rivals the late January-early February selloff, when Bitcoin tumbled from around $90,000 to $60,000 in a matter of a week. Bitcoin ETF net assets fell to $80.4 billion from $107.8 billion on May 14, reflecting sustained investor outflows.
Privacy coin Zcash added to market stress, plummeting 40% after a critical vulnerability was exposed that could have allowed unlimited counterfeit token creation. The bug, undetected for four years, was discovered with the help of Anthropic’s Opus 4.8 AI model, raising fresh questions about security risks across the industry.
Sources
- CNBC — Bitcoin price decline to $59,099.25, 16% weekly loss, ETF outflows streak, correlation collapse, and Strategy’s bitcoin sale
- CoinDesk — $5.3 billion in liquidated leveraged positions, $1.4 billion on Friday alone, Zcash vulnerability, and jobs report impact on crypto markets
