Bitcoin back above $61,000 after rout leads to $1.6 billion liquidations
Bitcoin fell as low as $59,227 overnight before recovering, steadying after Friday’s strong jobs report set off a selloff that sank the Nasdaq 100 about 5% and rattled stocks, bonds and crypto together.
What to know:
- Bitcoin briefly fell below $60,000 before rebounding to about $61,000 in Saturday Asian trading, easing fears of a deeper breakdown after a weeklong slide.
- The drop followed a strong U.S. jobs report that spurred markets to price in higher-for-longer interest rates, sending Treasury yields and the dollar up while hammering stocks, especially AI-related names.
- Crypto markets saw heavy leverage washouts with about $1.6 billion in positions liquidated over 24 hours, as major tokens like ether and solana posted steep weekly losses and Zcash plunged amid a disclosed bug.
The bounce came off a level traders had been watching closely. Bitcoin had been sliding toward $60,000 all week as a record run of ETF outflows and Strategy’s first bitcoin sale since 2022 removed buyers that had supported the price. The break below the round number overnight did not turn into a deeper breakdown, with the token recovering more than $1,500 off the low.
The selloff that drove the dip started outside crypto. Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report came in solid, and rather than cheering the strength, markets repriced the Federal Reserve outlook hard. Swaps now fully price a rate increase by the end of 2026, a reversal from the cuts expected under newly confirmed chair Kevin Warsh. Two-year Treasury yields jumped 12 basis points to 4.16%, the dollar rose, and risk assets fell.
