Sell-off leaves Bitcoin under pressure

6th Feb 2026 11:11

(Sharecast News) - Bitcoin came under pressure on Friday, after the cryptocurrency tumbled below $65,000 for the first time since Donald Trump was elected US president for a second term.

The world's biggest cryptocurrency fell sharply on Thursday, sinking below $64,000 to reach levels not seen since autumn 2024, before moving back up slightly on Friday.

By 1300 GMT, Bitcoin was trading around $66,500. However, it has lost more than 13% this week, and 24% in the year to date.

Over the last six months Bitcoin has now shed nearly half its value, driven largely by volatility in metal prices and more recently a broad sell-off in tech shares.

Ether, the second-biggest coin after Bitcoin, has also fallen sharply in recent weeks. Around 38% of its value has been wiped out so far this year.

According to Reuters, the global crypto market has now lost around $2trn in value since hitting a peak in early October.

Russ Mould, AJ Bell investment director, said: "Near-term market action is nearly always driven by two things: positioning and leveraging. Or, in plain English, who is most overweight in which holdings, and how much margin or borrowed money they have used to do the buying.

"It does not take much to create a panic in widely-owned stocks that have done well, and where use of margin may be common, especially if their valuations stand at a big premium to wider markets.

"And this is where we may be right now when it comes to the AI hyper-scalers, software as a service providers, crypto and even silver and gold."

Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo, said: "Most investors are likely nursing losses [on] Friday morning, as we see a sharp unwind in some of the most popular trades. Crypto is looking particularly weak."