Bitcoin stayed near the $64,000 line over the weekend, holding up better than many traditional risk assets during a period of sharp moves in equities and oil.
Over the past 24 hours, BTC traded between $62,537 and $64,388 and was last quoted around $63,960, up 0.82% on the day. The move put it back above the $64,000 mark. Compared with its recent swing high of $65,385 on July 15, Bitcoin remains in a pullback phase, but its price action has been relatively resilient against the wider market turbulence.
Ethereum lagged behind. ETH slipped 0.27% over 24 hours, briefly falling below $1,803 before trading near $1,842.
$304 million liquidated across the market in 24 hours
According to CoinGlass, 96,105 traders were liquidated across the crypto market in the past 24 hours, with total liquidations reaching $304 million. Of that amount, long positions made up $194 million, or about 63.7%, while short liquidations came in at $110 million.
The figures suggest that traders chasing the earlier upside were still the main group hit during the pullback from recent highs. The largest single liquidation was on Binance’s ETHUSDT pair, valued at $7.78 million.
The picture changed over the most recent 12-hour period. Liquidations during that window totaled $89.23 million, and shorts accounted for $66.79 million, or roughly 75%. That reversal points to a squeeze on bearish positions as Bitcoin climbed back above $64,000 in early trading, showing how intense the battle remains around that price zone.
U.S. AI chip shares fall hard as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index enters a bear market
Pressure from traditional markets remained the main outside force. On Friday, July 17, U.S. stocks closed lower again. The S&P 500 fell 1.01% to 7,457.69, the Nasdaq dropped 1.4% to 25,520.24, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 406 points to close at 52,146.42. For the week, the three indexes fell 1.6%, 2.9%, and 0.9%, respectively.
Chip stocks were hit the hardest. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index officially entered bear market territory. Nvidia fell 3.78% in a single session, while AMD, Arm, Oracle, Broadcom, Super Micro, and Marvell each dropped more than 5%.
The report said the sell-off was driven in part by concerns that hyperscale AI data center operators may slow capital spending. It also pointed to a new model released by Chinese startup Moonshot AI, which was described as competing with leading U.S. systems and raising concerns that sales at American chipmakers and model developers could come under pressure.
Oil jumps more than 4% as tensions involving the U.S. and Iran escalate
Oil prices also moved sharply higher. The report said Kuwait accused Iran of attacking its power generation and seawater desalination facilities, while Iran said it had launched retaliatory strikes against U.S. targets in Bahrain, Jordan, and Qatar. Risks around the Strait of Hormuz, which handles about one-fifth of global seaborne crude oil flows, rose quickly.
Brent crude climbed about 4.6% to settle at $88.10 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate rose about 4.5% to $82.49 a barrel.
The jump in crude prices revived concern about sticky inflation and clouded interest-rate-cut expectations that had strengthened after June CPI data cooled.
SOL and XRP edge higher while major tokens hold key levels
Other large-cap cryptocurrencies also traded in a narrow range over the weekend. Solana rose 0.39% over 24 hours to about $75.23, though it remained below its July 4 swing high of $83.43. XRP added 0.30% to trade near $1.09.
As a group, major cryptocurrencies did not follow U.S. equities into a deeper sell-off. Instead, they mostly held their key levels, creating a visible contrast with moves in broader risk assets.
Fear and Greed Index drops to 25 as ETF flows turn into focus
Even with prices holding relatively steady, sentiment weakened. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index came in at 25, placing it in the “Extreme Fear” zone. That was lower than 27 a day earlier and 26 a week earlier, though still above the reading of 15 one month ago.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs and spot Ethereum ETFs both shifted from net outflows to net inflows last week, a sign that institutional buying may be returning. At the same time, MicroStrategy, described in the report as the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, has sold $218 million worth of BTC this year to repay preferred stock debt and has also been authorized to sell as much as $1.25 billion more.
With the AI trade in U.S. equities weakening and geopolitical tensions intensifying, whether Bitcoin can continue to hold the $64,000 level is likely to remain a key point for the market next week. The report also noted that a Bloomberg analyst had warned of a possible “painful pullback.”