Bitcoin Ends Week in a Slump — WSJ
By Vicky Ge HuangBitcoin and the broader crypto market are limping toward a painful weekly loss, fueled by investors' retreat from riskier and more speculative trades.Bitcoin tumbled below $95,000 Friday, extending the previous day's slide below the critical $100,000 mark. The largest cryptocurrency is now down about 9% for the week and trading more than 25% below its all-time high of above $126,000, touched on Oct. 6.Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, has also fallen about 9% for the week, to around $3,200.Crypto stocks were also hit hard. Strategy, the bitcoin-accumulation firm run by Michael Saylor, has fallen over 17% this week. The company's market cap briefly slipped below the value of its bitcoin holdings on Thursday, raising questions about the sustainability of similar bitcoin treasury companies.Investors are fretting over the lowered expectations for a December interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve while the U.S. economy faces a slowdown."Risk-on appetite has waned lately despite robust blockchain fundamentals and broadening adoption," said Eli Ndinga, global head of research at 21Shares.Institutional and individual investors have been liquidating their positions, adding to the downward pressure on crypto prices. Investors yanked about $868 million from 11 U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds on Thursday, the group's worst day since late February 2025, according to JPMorgan and Bloomberg data.Meanwhile, early bitcoin holders have been cashing out, amplifying the downward pressure across the market. Long-term bitcoin holders have sold a total of about 815,000 bitcoin in the last 30 days, the highest level since January 2024, according to data provider CryptoQuant.Despite the downturn, some investors maintain a bullish outlook on bitcoin, which has had a blistering run since the election of a crypto-friendly administration.Eric Trump, co-founder and chief strategy officer of bitcoin-mining company American Bitcoin, said he views the current selloff as an opportunity for his firm to acquire more bitcoin."I think volatility is your friend," President Trump's son said. "Anybody who can't embrace volatility in cryptocurrency should probably get out of it...It's actually a great opportunity for us to buy."Write to Vicky Ge Huang at [email protected]