Cryptocurrency markets decline as Bitcoin remains near liquidation threshold.

Bitcoin has declined to $63,000 as the dollar strengthened and stock markets faltered. A drop below $60,000 could lead to additional liquidations and a decline towards $52,500.

Bitcoin investors are heading for exits. (Markus Pfaff/Shutterstock modified by CoinDesk)

Key points:

• BTC has decreased by 4.7% in the last 24 hours to $63,100; a fall below $60,000 could lead to liquidations and a decline towards the $52,500 support level.
• BCH decreased by 11.5%, while APT, ATOM, and SUI fell between 5% and 8% as liquidity diminishes and selling pressure grows.
• DeFi total value locked (TVL) remains more stable than token values, indicating a shift towards stablecoins, while RSI signals suggest a potential short-term recovery.

Bitcoin BTC$63,217.30 has fallen for the fourth consecutive day to approximately $63,100, marking its lowest point since February 6’s $60,200, according to CoinDesk data.

The recent downward movement aligns with a risk-off attitude from investors in global markets. U.S. equities have experienced losses this week, while the dollar index (DXY) has increased by 0.5% since Asian trading hours on Monday.

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BTC has decreased by 2.1% since midnight UTC and 4.7% over the past 24 hours. A decline below $60,000 would initiate another wave of liquidations and could lead to a drop to as low as $52,500, a significant support level from 2021.

The altcoin market is also showing signs of struggle on Tuesday. BCH$479.53 has lost 11.5% in value over the last 24 hours with a 3% drop since midnight UTC, while SUI, JUP, PUMP, and WLFI all experienced declines exceeding 2%.

Market analysts characterize the current price movement as a “slow bleed,” reminiscent of previous bear markets in cryptocurrency; however, it should be noted that the average crypto relative strength index (RSI) is indicating an “oversold” condition, suggesting the possibility of a rebound in the lower $60,000 range.

Derivatives positioning

• Notional open interest in the cryptocurrency futures market has decreased over 4% to $92.5 billion, marking the lowest level since early April 2025. This persistent decline indicates ongoing de-risking by investors, who are withdrawing capital from leveraged products.
• Exchanges have liquidated $360 million in leveraged positions within 24 hours. Long positions faced the majority of the impact, representing more than 90% of total liquidations across various exchanges, including Hyperliquid, HTX, Aster, Bitmex, and Bitfinex.
• Some traders appear to be shorting bitcoin in a weak market, as evidenced by the rise in global open interest in bitcoin futures to 690.89K BTC, the highest since February 6. The same trend is observed for ether.
• Annualized funding rates for perpetual contracts linked to major tokens remain negative, indicating a preference for bearish, short positions. TRX and TRON are experiencing funding rates as low as -35%, suggesting the market is gradually becoming saturated with short positions.
• The 30-day implied volatility indices for bitcoin and ether have risen to two-week highs, reflecting renewed market anxiety.
• On Deribit, bitcoin and ether put options are trading at over 10 volatility premium compared to calls set to expire at the end of March. This indicates increased concerns regarding a prolonged price downturn.
• Block flows have featured BTC put spreads and straddles. A put spread is a bearish strategy with a limited-profit, limited-loss profile, while straddles are a bet on volatility.

Token talk

• Aside from pippin (PIPPIN), an AI-related token that has seen a 7.7% increase in the past 24 hours and has doubled in value since the start of the year, the altcoin market is struggling due to a dearth of bullish drivers.
• The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has experienced less depreciation in total value locked (TVL) compared to the decline in asset values, suggesting that traders and investors are transitioning to stablecoins to reduce risk.
• This shift has resulted in poor performance among DeFi tokens, with CoinDesk’s DeFi Select Index (DFX) declining 34.8% since the beginning of the year, making it the worst-performing benchmark.
• Layer-1 tokens such as aptos APT$0.8111, ATOM$2.0333 and SUI$0.8579 all saw declines of 5% to 8% in the past 24 hours as the altcoin market contends with diminishing liquidity and ongoing selling pressure.