Bitcoin fell below USD 95,000 on Friday, extending a four-day slide that has wiped about USD 12,000 off its value since Tuesday and taken it to its lowest level in more than six months.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value traded as low as USD 94,480 on Friday morning — down 3.5% on the previous day — after briefly topping USD 107,000 earlier in the week. The sharp reversal coincided with a steep fall in tech stocks, particularly AI companies, and waning investor optimism about further Fed rate cuts.
Tech weakness spills over into crypto
Bitcoin’s fall coincided with a broad sell-off in tech stocks, especially AI-related names. Nasdaq-100 futures fell more than 1% before the open, and shares in Meta, Alphabet, Intel, Nvidia and Tesla dropped 1–5%. Experts say the correlation between Bitcoin and tech stocks has increased, as institutional investors now see crypto alongside tech as a similar risk asset. Many large investors who have put billions into AI companies also hold significant Bitcoin.
Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at Kronos Research, told The Block: “Heavy outflows signal a return to risk-off. Institutions are pulling back amid macro noise; this flow temporarily pressures price action but does not damage long-term structural demand.”
Record ETF outflows and selling by long-term holders
On Thursday, US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw USD 869.86 million of outflows — the second-largest daily outflow since their launch in January 2024. Meanwhile, CryptoQuant data show long-term Bitcoin holders sold about 815,000 BTC (worth roughly USD 79 billion) over the past 30 days — the largest monthly selling since early 2024.
Analysis from financial institutions
JPMorgan analysts said the estimated production cost of Bitcoin is now around USD 94,000 — a level that usually acts as a price floor. Even so, the bank kept its 6–12-month price target at USD 170,000, based on a volatility-adjusted comparison with gold.
Fear in the crypto market
Bitcoin’s Fear & Greed Index fell to 16 on Friday, indicating “extreme fear” — close to February’s level, when the index hit 10. Analysts warn that uncertainty over the Fed’s December decision may prolong volatility, as the probability of a rate cut has fallen to about 50%.
