Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell near $67,000 on Thursday, hitting its lowest level since October 2024.
The token is down more than 45% from last year’s all-time high, erasing all gains made during President Trump’s second term. Investors had been optimistic that the administration’s pro-cryptocurrency policies would lift digital asset prices.
Despite the intense selling, some bitcoin strategists say the token may not have bottomed yet.
“Bitcoin remains in a broader bearish market structure,” read a note from 10X Research on Thursday. “In the absence of a strong catalyst and with positioning still under pressure, downside risks remain elevated.”
In particular, the firm points to a significant glut: overexposed bitcoin ETF holders who are underwater, with an estimated average acquisition price near $90,000.
A similar dynamic is playing out with Ethereum (ETH) ETFs, as investors are down about 31% given their average cost basis, according to data from 10X Research.
“Under these conditions, attracting incremental allocations from Wall Street investors becomes increasingly difficult, particularly when many existing holders likely regret not having reduced exposure to significantly higher levels,” 10X said in a note.
Bitcoin sank as low as $67,235 on Thursday, continuing a deepening sell-off on Thursday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the US government would not bail out the cryptocurrency.
In a heated debate during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, Bessent was asked whether the US Treasury had the authority to purchase bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
“I don’t have the authority to do that, and as president of the FSOC, I don’t have that authority,” Bessent said.
Bitcoin’s decline was also driven by broader selling pressure in the markets and an earlier warning from notable investor Michael Burry that a sustained decline in Bitcoin’s price could “set in motion a death spiral leading to massive destruction of value.”
“Bitcoin has been exposed as a purely speculative asset, and is nowhere near the downgrade trading hedge that gold and other precious metals are,” Burry, who rose to fame after predicting the 2008 financial crisis, wrote on his Substack earlier this week.
The token is down about 22% so far this year and selling pressure intensified last weekend after Kevin Warsh was nominated as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, a move widely seen as aggressive for cryptocurrencies.
In January, bitcoin posted its fourth consecutive monthly loss.
Inés Ferré is a senior business reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X in @ines_ferre.