Bitcoin crashes to $59,000 as market stops believing in the HODL-at-any-cost story

Bitcoin broke under $60,000 on Friday, and the market did not exactly take it like adults in a room. The biggest crypto asset was trading around $59,911, down about 6% on the day and 18.7% for the week.

This saw the price of Bitcoin falling to its lowest level since 2024 and by 52% from its all-time high in October at $126,080. The time-honored mantra “just HODL forever” has come under scrutiny due to actual sell-off, rising rates, exit from ETFs, and one extremely awkward question about Saylor’s strategy.

The pain spread across the rest of crypto too. Ethereum fell 23% for the week to about $1,555, while Solana lost 22% in seven days and traded near $63.75. Earlier pressure came from growing ETF outflows and Strategy’s first Bitcoin sale since 2022.

Jobs data pushes rate fears higher as Bitcoin loses another support level

U.S. employers added 172,000 jobs in May, almost double the number traders expected. That data hit crypto at the wrong time because a stronger labor market gives the Federal Reserve less reason to cut rates. It also gives traders more reason to expect tighter policy before the year ends.

That is usually not friendly to Bitcoin, because higher rates make risky assets harder to justify.

The CME FedWatch Tool showed the total chance of a rate hike by year-end rising to 72.7% on Friday, up from 50.5% a day earlier.

The chance that the Federal Reserve keeps rates at the current 3.50% to 3.75% range fell to 26.9% from 47.4%. The chance of a quarter-point cut by the December meeting dropped to 0.5%, down from 2.2%.

Because of that, the 10-year Treasury yield jumped above 4.53% after the jobs report, as traders priced in higher rates for longer. That rate pressure landed on crypto, stocks, and anything else that had been running on cheap-money confidence.

Now traders are watching Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) like hawks. On Monday, investors will find out whether the company bought Bitcoin, sold more, or did nothing during the week. That matters because Strategy has become one of the biggest corporate demand stories in crypto.

If it bought aggressively after last week’s small but important sale, sentiment could calm down. If it sold again or stayed quiet, traders may start questioning one of the market’s most important buyers.

Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick said, “When MSTR last sold BTC … it bought back more than it sold just 2 days later.”

Geoff added:

“This time I suspect the buying following the selling will be more aggressive — I think either 10x (+ 320 BTC) or 100x (+3200 BTC). If I am right, the question is how will markets take it? I would see it as a tentative sign the low has been printed, and given that logic, suspect selling over the weekend will be muted (given risk we find out Monday MSTR has bought a chunk of BTC this week).”

Chip stocks drag Wall Street down while crypto traders watch Strategy

The crypto selloff came while Wall Street was also getting slapped around. U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday as semiconductor names took a brutal hit. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.18% and closed at 25,709.43, its worst day since the tariff chaos of April 2025.

The S&P 500 lost 2.64% and ended at 7,383.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 695.15 points, or 1.35%, to 50,866.78, one day after the blue-chip index closed at a record.

The S&P 500 also fell more than 2% for the week, ending a nine-week winning streak. The Nasdaq Composite lost 4.7% for the week after Friday’s damage. The 30-stock Dow finished slightly lower for the same period.

The reason behind the chip selloff was not fully clear. Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) disappointed investors after failing to raise its AI chip outlook on Wednesday night. That hit chip stocks Thursday, but Friday was much uglier. The strong jobs report and jump in Treasury yields made the selling worse.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SOXX) dropped 10%, its worst day since March 2020. Broadcom fell nearly 8% Friday after losing more than 12% on Thursday. Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) dropped more than 16%. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) each fell around 11%.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU), the memory chipmaker that had become one of the latest stars of the bull market, fell 13% Friday after dropping 8% on Thursday.

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