Bitcoin is now down 50.4% from its all-time high. After climbing to nearly $126,000 in late 2025, BTC slid into the $62,000 range by June 5, 2026, marking one of the sharpest pullbacks of the current cycle.
Earlier in the week, Bitcoin was still trading above $73,000. By the middle of the week, it had broken below $64,000 and briefly touched roughly $61,000 to $62,000. That move triggered more than $1.1 billion in crypto liquidations over 24 hours, with most of the losses hitting traders positioned for upside. The drop was fast, and the market repriced in days rather than weeks.
ETF withdrawals became the central source of pressure
The main driver cited in the source was the pace of money leaving US spot Bitcoin ETFs. Those products recorded 10 to 13 consecutive days of outflows, with total withdrawals reaching $4.3 billion over that stretch. In one week alone, investors pulled out $1.67 billion. Among the products mentioned, BlackRock's IBIT took the hardest hit.
Persistent institutional selling tends to feed directly into price weakness. At the same time, MicroStrategy sold part of its Bitcoin holdings for the first time in years. The amount was limited — 32 BTC, worth about $2.5 million — but the timing added to the pressure already building in the market.
Altcoins fell harder as exchange whale activity picked up
Bitcoin's drawdown looks severe on its own, but other major crypto assets have fallen even more from their highs. ETH is down 66%, SOL has dropped 77.5%, and BNB is trading 56% below its peak. By comparison, Bitcoin's decline is one of the smaller corrections in the current cycle.
The source also pointed to on-chain data showing increased whale activity on exchanges during the sell-off. Large-holder movements do not explain every leg down, but they often sharpen market sensitivity when prices are already weakening.
Macro conditions added strain, but crypto-specific selling stood out
Broader market conditions made the move harder to absorb. US Treasury yields stayed elevated, the dollar strengthened, and risk-off sentiment spread through markets. Geopolitical tension pushed oil prices higher, adding inflation pressure that tends to reduce appetite for assets such as crypto.
At the same time, tech and AI stocks were described as holding up relatively well. Crypto diverged from that strength and fell anyway, a sign that the selling pressure was not only about broad market fear; it was also specific to digital assets and their own flow dynamics.
A real-world use case emerged, but flows remain the key variable
One supportive development appeared during the same period. Coinbase and its partners helped complete the first Fannie Mae-backed mortgage in which Bitcoin was used as collateral for the down payment, pointing to a new real-world use case for the asset.
For the longer term, the source noted that Standard Chartered and other banks still hold end-2026 targets of $100,000. It also noted that Bitcoin posted similar or larger drawdowns during earlier bull cycles in 2017 and 2021 before later reaching new highs. Whether the $62,000 area becomes an accumulation zone or gives way to deeper losses, according to the source, will depend heavily on whether ETF outflows ease and whether macro pressure starts to fade.