Bitcoin drops below $65,000 to eliminate the “Trump rally”

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Bitcoin fell below $65,000 on Thursday for the first time since 2024, erasing all the gains it had made since Donald Trump was elected to a second term as US president.

The largest in the world Cryptocurrency It fell 12 percent to just under $64,000, as cryptocurrencies were swept up in the process. Heavy selling in technology stocks. Bitcoin has lost more than a quarter of its dollar value this year.

“Sentiment has deteriorated sharply,” said Jasper de Meer, a strategist at trading firm Wintermute. “The cryptocurrency market continues to feel fatigued because we see little appetite from anyone to intervene convincingly at these levels.”

The liquidation of leveraged Bitcoin bets contributed to the downward spiral as traders who used significant leverage on their positions were forced to sell in order to meet margin calls – further depressing prices.

The price of ether, the second largest currency, fell by 13 percent to $1,849, bringing its decline this year to 37 percent.

Bitcoin It surged after Trump won the election, fueled by his pledge to make the United States the “crypto capital of the world” and roll back a regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies. Crypto industry.

Since taking office, the White House has helped pass industry-friendly legislation while regulators have increased cryptocurrency enforcement measures, pushing the price of bitcoin to a record high last year of more than $125,000.

But since then, they have retreated as the wave of enthusiasm sparked by Trump began to wane and investors turned instead to precious metals as a long-term store of value, leading to a record rally in gold and silver.

Legislation governing the cryptocurrency industry in the United States also stalled this year.

The decline accelerated this week amid a stock sell-off sparked by investor concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on technology companies.

Shares in Michael Saylor’s bitcoin hoarding company fell 17.1 percent on Thursday, down 32 percent this year.

The decline in the price of Bitcoin led to the company incurring billions of dollars in paper losses. Saylor purchased 713,502 bitcoins at an average price of $76,052 by issuing equity and debt.

The strategy reported a loss of $12.4 billion in the fourth quarter, which ended before Bitcoin’s most recent decline. “We’re not worried, and no, we don’t have problems,” said CEO Fung Lo.

Meanwhile, Saylor praised Trump as the “Bitcoin president.”

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, co-founded by twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, said Thursday it will lay off 200 employees and scale back some operations to cut costs. Its shares have fallen 80 percent since it went public in September.

On prediction market platform Kalshi, traders began betting last month on how much Bitcoin’s price would fall this year. It shows an approximately 85 percent probability that the price will fall below $60,000.

Data visualization by Ray Douglas