Bitcoin Falls to $70,000 as Strategy’s First BTC Sale, $3 Billion ETF Outflows, Heavy Liquidations and Weak Global Risk Sentiment Pressure Crypto Market
Bitcoin trades at $69,746.8 at press time, with a 4.58% decline in the last 24 hours as investors reacted to the first reported Bitcoin sell-off from Strategy and weakened risk appetite globally. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has fallen around 9% in the past seven days.
BTC now trades at its lowest price since early April and just above the 23.6% fib retracement at $68,987. The sell-off was not limited to Bitcoin. Ethereum fell below the $2,000 level at $1,978.04, while XRP dropped 3.56% to $1.26 and Solana slipped 2.43% to $79.41. Dogecoin also declined 1.06% to 0.09894.
Strategy’s First Publicized Bitcoin Sale Hits Sentiment
The latest pressure came after Strategy disclosed in an 8-K filing that it sold 32 bitcoins for approximately $2.5 million between May 26 and 31. The sale occurred at an average price of $77,135 per BTC. The proceeds are expected to be used to fund distributions of preferred stock.
The sale was modest, representing only a small portion of Strategy’s overall holdings, which were estimated to be approximately 843,706 bitcoins; investors viewed it as symbolic. Under the leadership of Michael Saylor, Strategy became the largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin and has long been associated with aggressive BTC accumulation.
Shares of Strategy fell nearly 6% after the disclosure, given that the sale was Strategy’s first such move since late 2022, even though it represented a fraction of its overall holdings.
Also Read: Strategy Plans $14B Bitcoin Buy, Targets 1 Million BTC in Bold Expansion
Liquidations Show Leverage Unwinding
There was also notable leverage pressure across the crypto market. In the last 24 hours, more than 152,000 traders were liquidated; total liquidations were around $744 million. This suggests the move was not only a spot sale, but also unwinding of ‘over-leveraged’ positions.
Another concern is a lack of liquidity in Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). According to SoSoValue, investors have pulled out over $3 billion from Bitcoin ETFs in the last three weeks, erasing a large support for BTC demand.
Global Risk Sentiment Adds Pressure
Global equities are also in the red, similar to crypto. MSCI’s Asia-Pacific equity index dropped 0.5% and Nasdaq 100 futures tumbled 0.7%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.8% following a robust YTD gain. At the same time, Brent crude futures were trading around $94.40 per barrel, with concerns over the US-Iran ceasefire talks.
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