Bitcoin Bounces Back Above $60,000 as AI Stocks Rebound

Crypto assets staged a partial rebound on Thursday after suffering heavy losses earlier in the week. Bitcoin broke below $60,000 but was pulled back to around $60,700, down 2.9% over 24 hours and 5.4% on the week.

The damage was deeper across other majors, with Ether dropping 2.8% to $1,616 for a 7.9% weekly loss, XRP falling to $1.07 and is down 9.2% on the week, and Solana sliding to $68. Dogecoin and Hyperliquid's HYPE were the worst hit over seven days, down 11.9% and 11.7%. Tron was the only major higher on the week, up 1.9%

The AI trade that had been weighing on crypto assets rebounded overnight, with Micron jumping about 15% after its sales forecast crushed Wall Street estimates. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.8%, South Korea's Kospi surged as much as 6%, and Brent crude erased its wartime gains to fall below $73 a barrel.

According to Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro, the pressure on crypto has become self-inflicted. The break below $60,000 reflects continued outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, the Federal Reserve's hawkish turn and a U.S. dollar that climbed to a seven-month high.

Kuptsikevich also warned of a longer-term trend pointing towards a crypto winter, with bitcoin hovering near its 200-week moving average, which has been breached three times before, leading to prolonged weakness lasting around nine months in 2015, six months in 2018 and roughly six quarters after the 2022 collapse.