Live markets: Bitcoin falls below $60,000. Kospi, Nikkei sink

Executive Chairman of Strategy (MSTR) Michael Saylor took to X, writing: “Volatility tests every capital structure. Strategy remains focused on Bitcoin, disciplined capital allocation, credit quality, and long-term value creation. We appreciate our investors and will continue to execute with transparency and resolve.”

The comments come as Strategy’s shares extend Thursday’s selloff in Friday’s premarket trading, after falling 9% in the previous session to around $85, leaving the stock more than 85% below its November 2024 all-time high. Meanwhile, the company’s perpetual preferred stock, STRC, is trading near $75, about 25% below its intended $100 par value, highlighting mounting pressure across Strategy’s capital structure.

U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs shed $696 million on Thursday, extending the run to six consecutive days of net redemptions. U.S. spot ether ETFs lost $81.9 million the same day, also their sixth straight day of outflows, per SoSoValue data.

The bitcoin bleed was broad. BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest fund, accounted for $63 million of the outflows, Fidelity’s FBTC shed $3.5 million, and Grayscale’s funds lost a combined $23 million. No fund posted meaningful inflows.

Among ether ETFs, BlackRock’s ETHA led with $63 million in outflows, and only Bitwise’s ETHW posted any inflow, a negligible $557,000. Total ether ETF assets have fallen to $8.3 billion, down from $10 billion at the start of the month.

More than $1 billion in crypto positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, per CoinGlass, with longs accounting for $842 million of the damage. About 148,500 traders were wiped out. The largest single position was a $38 million bitcoin-dollar bet on Hyperliquid. Bitcoin led at $489 million in liquidations, ether at $295 million.

Bitcoin is trading near $59,750 on Friday morning, down 2.8% on the day and back in the $58,000 to $62,000 range it has churned through all week, per CoinDesk data.

The 24-hour low hit $58,188, uncomfortably close to the levels where another $1.6 billion in leveraged long positions are clustered, per CoinGlass.

Today’s quarter-end options expiry is the live catalyst.

A large volume of options contracts expire simultaneously at quarter-end, which can amplify moves in either direction as traders close or roll positions. How bitcoin exits the session today is likely to set the tone heading into July.

Bitcoin (BTC) has bounced from overnight lows amid a renewed slide in Asian equity markets.

The leading cryptocurrency by market value traded at around $59,800 as of this writing, up 2.7% from the low of $58,206 hit Thursday, according to CoinDesk data. Still, prices are down over 5% this week and nearly 20% for the month.

“Bitcoin has pulled back into the $50–60K zone, and if history is any guide, this is where buyers step in,” Gabe Selby, head of research at CF Benchmarks, said.

Selby explained that this zone was first established as support in mid-2024, when prices consolidated in this range following the U.S. spot ETF launch rally, and it’s held through everything thrown at it since: the yen carry unwind, the election cycle, and every other high-time-frame retest.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks are under pressure, with South Korea’s Kospi index down 8% and Japan’s Nikkei losing 3%. The losses follow overnight risk aversion on Wall Street where shares in Apple and other Mag7 stocks cratered after announcing price hikes for laptops, tablets and other products citing rising costs.