What happened: Bitcoin (BTC-USD) dropped more than 4% on Tuesday to hover below $70,000, its lowest level since April 8.
What’s behind the move: The world’s largest cryptocurrency has faced numerous headwinds in recent days as sentiment has soured after major holder Strategy (MSTR) sold tokens for the first time since 2022.
On Monday, Strategy revealed it had offloaded around $2.5 million of its massive $59 billion bitcoin position. The move signaled a shift away from the aggressive buy-and-hold strategy that had made the firm one of bitcoin’s biggest institutional backers and market cheerleader.
Although the sale amounts to a fraction of Strategy’s overall holdings, the timing is noteworthy.
Spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen outflows for an unprecedented 11 consecutive days, nearing $3.5 billion over that period, according to Bloomberg data.
What else you need to know: Other cryptocurrencies like Ether (ETH-USD) and Solana (SOL-USD) also fell on Tuesday, though not as much as bitcoin.
“What’s particularly surprising is that Bitcoin is falling even as the US stock market — driven by exuberance around AI — is continuing to hit new highs,” said Nic Puckrin, macro analyst and co-founder of Coin Bureau.
“This means Bitcoin is being driven more by crypto-specific sentiment, and this is close to rock bottom right now,” he added.
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre.
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