Bitcoin briefly plunged below $62,000 Thursday morning Hong Kong time, triggering more than $1.5 billion in leveraged crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours as a wave of forced selling accelerated the market’s steepest decline in months.

More than 208,000 traders were liquidated across crypto markets, according to CoinGlass data, with bitcoin accounting for over $800 million of the losses and ether another $386 million.

The liquidation wave coincided with continued weakness in institutional demand. Investors have pulled approximately $1 billion from U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs this week, according to SoSoValue data, extending the funds’ record streak of net outflows.

Presto Research argued Thursday in a note that bitcoin’s weakness may reflect broader competition for investor capital rather than any single crypto-specific catalyst.

The firm said bitcoin’s major drawdowns this year have coincided with rallies in gold and artificial intelligence stocks as investors scaled back expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts.

If that relationship holds, Presto argues, bitcoin’s recovery may depend less on crypto market developments and more on easing inflation concerns and a renewed shift toward liquidity-sensitive assets.

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