Bitcoin held the $64,000 level over the weekend, trading at $63,960 with a 0.82% gain in 24 hours, showing relative resilience amid a broader market storm. However, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index plunged to 25, signaling 'extreme fear,' as U.S. AI chip stocks crashed and oil prices surged over 4% on Iran conflict fears. The market saw 96,105 liquidations totaling $304 million in the past day, with longs accounting for 63.7% of the losses.
Bitcoin Holds Key Level Amid Volatility
Bitcoin oscillated between a low of $62,537 and a high of $64,388 over the past 24 hours, eventually reclaiming the $64,000 mark. The price remains in a consolidation phase after hitting a recent high of $65,385 on July 15. Ethereum underperformed, dipping 0.27% to around $1,842 after briefly falling below $1,803. The liquidation data reveals a tug-of-war: while the 24-hour period saw mostly long liquidations, the last 12 hours flipped, with shorts accounting for 75% of $89.23 million in liquidations, as the bounce squeezed bearish positions.
AI Chip Rout and Oil Spike Shake Markets
The real pressure came from traditional markets. The S&P 500 fell 1.01% on Friday, the Nasdaq dropped 1.4%, and the Dow lost 406 points. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index entered bear territory, with Nvidia falling 3.78% and AMD, Arm, Oracle, Broadcom, Super Micro, and Marvell all dropping over 5%. The sell-off was driven by fears of slowing capital expenditure by AI data center operators and competition from Chinese startup Moonshot AI's new model. Meanwhile, oil prices surged as U.S.-Iran tensions escalated, with Brent crude rising 4.6% to $88.10 and WTI gaining 4.5% to $82.49. The spike reignited inflation concerns, clouding rate-cut expectations that had risen after June's CPI data.
Altcoins Hold Steady, ETF Flows Turn Positive
Other major cryptocurrencies also held their ground. Solana rose 0.39% to $75.23, though still below its July 4 high of $83.43. XRP gained 0.30% to $1.09. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index at 25 reflects deep pessimism, though it has improved from 15 a month ago. Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows last week after a period of outflows, suggesting institutional buying may be returning. However, MicroStrategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, has sold $218 million in Bitcoin this year to repay preferred stock debt and is authorized to sell up to $1.25 billion more. The key question for next week is whether Bitcoin can hold $64,000 amid the AI narrative wobble and rising geopolitical risks, avoiding the 'painful correction' warned by Bloomberg analysts.