Crypto Market Update: Bitcoin Price Ends Week Higher Following Earlier Losses

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$70,178.66, up by 11.3 percent over 24 hours.

Despite Friday's gains, Bitcoin has fallen over 14 percent this week to lows below US$62,000.

Antonio Di Giacomo, senior market analyst at XS.com, told the Investing News Network via email that the cryptocurrency's sharp price decline confirms a structural shift from a market dominated by speculation and leverage to one focused on capital preservation and adjustment across risk assets.

Bitcoin has stopped behaving as an alternative safe-haven asset and has realigned with the risk asset cycle. Its high correlation with traditional financial markets, including a broad selloff in technology stocks, precious metals and equities, suggests a scenario of systemic stress and scarce liquidity.

Downward pressure intensified after key technical levels were broken, causing nearly US$770 million in leveraged long positions to be liquidated in 24 hours, suggesting the market's "cleansing phase" is ongoing.

The decline was exacerbated by a strong US dollar and rising bond yields, which reduced the appeal of non-yielding assets like cryptocurrencies, prompting a rotation into defensive assets.

In the short term, price action will be limited and vulnerable to renewed selling pressure as long as restrictive financial conditions and a defensive tone prevail in global markets. Stabilization requires an improvement in global financial conditions and Bitcoin's ability to rebuild solid technical support.

Ether (ETH) was priced at US$2,052.03, up by 10 percent over the last 24 hours.

Altcoin price update

• XRP (XRP) was priced at US$1.46, up by 25.2 over 24 hours.

• Solana (SOL) was trading at US$87.37, up by 10.4 percent over 24 hours.