Bitcoin crash below $60,000 triggers $1 billion loss as markets now price Fed rate hike by October

A notable development has hit the crypto markets. Bitcoin price fell below $60,000 this week and touched its lowest level since October 2024 as traders abandoned expectations for interest-rate cuts and began preparing for the Federal Reserve to raise borrowing costs later this year. According to 's data, the largest digital asset dropped more than 4% in the last 24 hours to as low as $59,030 before recovering to roughly $61,650 as of press time. This move extended a decline that has erased more than 50% of its value since the record reached last October.

The distress in Bitcoin cascaded swiftly across the broader digital asset ecosystem. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, dropped approximately 3% to trade near $1,650. Alternative cryptocurrencies experienced similar depreciations.

Market Dynamics

Major digital assets including Solana, BNB, Cardano, XRP, Dogecoin, and Hyperliquid all traded firmly in negative territory as the risk-off sentiment permeated every tier of the crypto market. A cascading liquidation event The swift, broad market descent triggered a sharp unwinding of leveraged positions across crypto derivatives exchanges. As the asset sliced through critical technical boundaries, algorithmic selling and margin calls compounded the downward momentum.

Market data tracker Coinglass reported that approximately $1 billion in derivative contracts were forcefully closed within a 24-hour window. The wipeout affected more than 176,000 individual market participants. Crypto Market Liquidation in The Last 24 Hours (Source: CoinGlass) The drawdown disproportionately impacted traders positioned for a rebound.

Liquidations of long contracts, which are bets that prices would appreciate, accounted for about $781 million of the total, compared to $211 million in short liquidations. This heavy imbalance reflects a market that was fundamentally mispositioned, with speculators caught leaning bullishly into a structural decline. Bitcoin-specific contracts bore the brunt of the washout, suffering $417 million in forced closures.

Market Impact

The single most severe liquidation materialized on the Binance exchange, involving a $12 million Bitcoin swap contract. Meanwhile, ETH-linked derivatives traders absorbed roughly $230 million of the total liquidation wipeout. Spot sellers and ETF redemptions drive the break Trading data indicate that the decline began in the spot market, where investors buy and sell the underlying asset, rather than in futures markets.

More than $470 million in Bitcoin sell orders were executed on Binance within one minute as the price crossed below $60,000, CryptoQuant data showed. Sell orders on the exchange exceeded $1. 2 billion within the following hour.

The volume of orders clustered near $60,000 indicates that many investors had chosen the level as an exit point. Once those orders entered the market, available demand proved insufficient to absorb the supply without a steep drop in price. Broader demand also remains weak.

This shift continues to shape the digital-asset landscape, with analysts examining its near-term effects.