Bitcoin Plunges Below $25K, Lowest Level Since December 2020
A weak macroeconomic environment and systemic risk from within the crypto space have caused nearly 12 successive weeks of losses for the asset.
Bitcoin (BTC) plummeted below $25,000 Monday amid weakness in the macroeconomic environment and systemic risk from within the crypto market, data shows.
The asset has slid for nearly 12 straight weeks, falling from nearly $49,000 in March 2022 to under $25,000. It showed some signs of bottoming out in mid-May, but worrying U.S. inflation data released last week did little to cushion falling sentiment.
The consumer price index (CPI), the most widely tracked benchmark for inflation, rose 8.6% on a year-over-year basis in May, topping expectations that it would decline to 8.2% from April's 8.3%, as reported.
Such data contributed to a fall in Asian markets on Monday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell nearly 3.5%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 3.01%, while India’s Sensex dropped 2.44%. Futures of U.S. technology-heavy index Nasdaq opened 2% lower, while S&P500 fell 1.65%.
According to price charts, bitcoin had strong support at the $29,000 mark, but the fall below that level now means that the cryptocurrency could drop to its 2017 high of nearly $20,000.
Readings on the Relative Strength Index (RSI) – a tool used by traders to calculate the magnitude of an asset’s price move – dropped under 30, suggesting a reversal could be on the way as short-term buyers react to technical data.
![Bitcoin RSI dropped under 30 this week, technical indicators show. (TradingView)](https://www.coindesk.com/resizer/vI_PXny9F-XPAMo3I421h-uQCVc=/560x255/filters:quality(80):format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/UHY56SVFIBERVGTHNXX7WKBPPA.png)
Elsewhere, crypto lender Celsius paused withdrawals citing “extreme market conditions,” fueling Crypto Twitter concerns that the company may not have enough liquidity to pay out its depositors.