"The downturn was attributed by analysts to a pullback in AI-related stocks and persistent capital outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs."
Cryptocurrency markets experienced significant declines on Friday, with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) leading a broad sell-off that also affected Asian equities.
Price Movements
Bitcoin (BTC) was trading around $62,500-$62,715, a decline of approximately 14.5% from its level at the start of the week.
Ether (ETH) fell over 17% overall, with a 5.5% drop on Friday alone, reaching its lowest level since April 2025. It traded at $1,696, down 4.8% on the day. Analysts noted that a break below $1,420 could bring the price toward 2022 bear-market levels below $900.
Altcoins experienced varied losses:
- Solana fell 5.4% to $66.51 (an 18.5% weekly loss)
- Hyperliquid's HYPE dropped 14.8% to $62.14
Zcash (ZEC) fell over 30% on Friday following a security researcher's report of an exploit that could mint unlimited tokens in its shielded pool. The token also gave back its recent weekly outperformance.
Volume, Derivatives, and Liquidations
Spot trading volume on centralized exchanges fell to $679 billion in April, the lowest since October 2023, according to CryptoQuant.
In the derivatives market:
- Open interest in Bitcoin futures fell 15% to $17 billion
- Funding rates turned negative across multiple venues
- At the Deribit exchange, the three-month annualized basis fell to 2.7% from 2.9%
- Options trading showed a balanced put/call volume split of 50/50
- The one-week 25-delta skew, which measures the cost of downside protection, rose to 27% from 13%
- Front-end implied volatility (DVOL) rose to 47
Coinglass reported $1.2 billion in 24-hour liquidations across all crypto assets, with 76% being long positions and 24% being short positions. Bitcoin ($364 million), Ether ($291 million), and Zcash ($107 million) led liquidations.
Market Drivers and Capital Flows
AI Trade Slowdown
A pullback in the AI-related trade, which had recently supported risk assets, was cited as a primary driver. Broadcom's quarterly AI-chip outlook on Wednesday missed elevated expectations, pausing a months-long advance in semiconductor stocks. Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.9% on Friday, extending those declines. In Asia, South Korea's KOSPI fell 4.7%, with chipmaker SK Hynix down 8%.
Crypto-Specific Factors
- U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded 13 consecutive sessions of net outflows, totaling approximately $4.4 billion since mid-May
- Strategy (MSTR) Executive Chairman Michael Saylor attributed the decline to capital rotation toward AI IPOs in the U.S.
- Onchain analysts cited a lack of spot crypto volume
- Strategy filed its first disclosed Bitcoin sale since 2022, selling 32 BTC to fund preferred stock dividend obligations
Broader Asian Market Context
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific equities fell 1.4%. Currency markets also saw significant movement:
- The Korean won extended its slide to a 2009 low
- The Indonesian rupiah traded near its record low against the U.S. dollar as foreign investors withdrew from local bond markets
- The Indian rupee strengthened after the Reserve Bank of India announced measures to attract capital inflows
Key Levels
A Binance liquidation heatmap indicated $60,900 as a core BTC liquidation level.
Upcoming Data
The next major market test was identified as Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls report. Market commentary suggested a soft print could revive expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, while a hot print would have the opposite effect.