The crypto market opened June with a brutal sell-off. According to OKX data, Bitcoin fell to $66,500, Ethereum broke below $1,900 with a 24-hour loss of 8% to trade at $1,855, and Solana dropped to $73—losses that rippled across major coins, altcoins, and crypto-related stocks. This wave of selling triggered the largest liquidation cascade since February this year: total liquidations across derivatives markets exceeded $1.7 billion in 24 hours, with long positions bearing the brunt. Bitcoin long liquidations alone surpassed $1.5 billion, dwarfing the roughly $200 million in short liquidations, highlighting an overleveraged market that violently unwound as prices fell.
Institutional selling was the core driver of the downturn. Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a single-day net outflow of $483.8 million, and for the full month of May, net outflows reached $2.3 billion—the largest monthly outflow since the start of 2026. This marks a dramatic reversal from the $1.32 billion and $1.97 billion net inflows recorded in March and April, respectively, suggesting that institutions are offloading at a pace well beyond what the price decline alone would warrant. Macroscopically, the crypto market’s correlation with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 84%, indicating shared pressure from broader risk-off sentiment. As Ethereum fell through the psychologically important $1,900 level, cascading stop-loss orders and forced liquidations on exchanges like Bitstamp and Binance amplified the downturn.
HYPE Defies the Trend with New All-Time High
Against the broad market collapse, Hyperliquid (HYPE) stood out. HYPE reached an all-time high of $75.51 on June 2 before retreating to $68, down about 8% over 24 hours but still up roughly 15% over the past week. With a market capitalization near $15.9 billion and 24-hour trading volume of $1.54 billion, HYPE ranked as the 10th largest crypto asset globally. Its relative strength—posting double-digit weekly gains while the overall market lost 7.5%—made it one of the few bright spots in a sea of red.
ZEC Surges on SEC Closure and Strong Fundamentals
Zcash (ZEC) was the standout performer amid the turmoil. ZEC surged over 7% in 24 hours, reaching an intraday high of $628, briefly ranking as the 11th largest cryptocurrency by market cap at over $11 billion. The key catalyst was confirmation in the Zcash Foundation’s Q1 report that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had closed its investigation into the project with no enforcement action. For a privacy coin long plagued by regulatory uncertainty, this was read as a significant compliance milestone. Although the news was initially released weeks ago, capital still poured in during this leg of the rally, signaling sustained confidence in privacy-focused blockchain fundamentals.
Looking further back, ZEC has soared from a low of $185 in February to a high of $688 in May—a gain of over 270%. The number of shielded addresses has risen from 1.47 million in 2024 to 5.11 million currently, reflecting growing on-chain demand for privacy. Analyst Ali Martinez noted that ZEC’s 12-hour chart has triggered a TD Sequential buy signal; if the coin can hold the $500 support level, the next target sits at $642. Additionally, governance voting for the NU7 network upgrade is expected to begin in June 2026, potentially providing further technical catalysts for the price.
