Bitcoin Plunges Below $84K as $115B Wiped from Crypto Market in Steep Fall

Cryptocurrency markets suffered a significant downturn on Friday as a widespread selloff eliminated nearly all gains made earlier in the week. Bitcoin, which had been approaching the $88,000 mark just a day earlier, tumbled to $83,800, registering a 3.8% decline over 24 hours.

The broader cryptocurrency market experienced even steeper losses, with the CoinDesk 20 Index falling 5.7%. Native cryptocurrencies including Avalanche (AVAX), Polygon (POL), Near (NEAR), and Uniswap (UNI) were hit particularly hard, each dropping approximately 10% during the same period. According to TradingView data, the selloff erased $115 billion from the total cryptocurrency market capitalization.

Ethereum (ETH) wasn’t spared, posting a decline exceeding 6% and continuing its relative weakness against Bitcoin. ETH reached its lowest comparative price to Bitcoin since May 2020. This downward trend is further evidenced by spot ETH exchange-traded funds failing to attract any net inflows since early March, while Bitcoin ETFs have seen over $1 billion in inflows during the past two weeks, according to Farside Investors data.

The cryptocurrency market’s decline coincided with a selloff in U.S. equity markets, which responded negatively to disappointing economic reports. The S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 2% and 2.8% respectively. Crypto-related stocks were hit even harder, with MicroStrategy (MSTR), the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, plummeting 10%, while crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) fell 7.7%.

Economic concerns mounted following the February PCE inflation report released Friday morning, which showed a 2.5% year-over-year increase in the price index. Core inflation reached 2.8%, slightly above expectations. Consumer spending increased by a modest 0.4%, but inflation-adjusted figures indicated minimal real growth, suggesting potential economic headwinds. The Federal Reserve of Atlanta’s GDPNow model now projects a 2.8% contraction in the U.S. economy for the first quarter (0.5% after adjusting for Gold imports and exports), fueling stagflation concerns.

Adding to market anxiety is the impending implementation of broad U.S. tariffs next week—referred to as “Liberation Day” on April 2 by the Trump administration.

Despite the current downturn, some analysts see technical factors at play. Bitcoin’s decline may represent a filling of the price gap between Monday’s open and the previous week’s close on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange futures market, around $84,000-$85,000. Bitcoin typically revisits similar CME gaps, as noted earlier by CoinDesk senior analyst James Van Straten.

Market strategist Joel Kruger from LMAX Group expressed uncertainty about whether markets have found a bottom yet but highlighted several positive longer-term trends. “At this stage it’s difficult to determine if we have already seen a bottom in 2025,” Kruger noted in a market commentary. He pointed to crypto-friendly policies in the U.S. and increasing participation from traditional financial firms as potential positive catalysts for digital assets later in the year.

Kruger added, “Any additional setbacks that we might see should be exceptionally well supported into the $70-75k area.”

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