Bitcoin’s Plunge Below $105,000 Sends Crypto Market Cap to Lowest Level Since July

The cryptocurrency market extended its losses on Thursday, as Bitcoin’s renewed sell-off triggered a new wave of liquidations, pushing major altcoins to multi-week lows.

The downturn was led by Bitcoin, which fell 5.6% over the past 24 hours to an intraday low of $104,853, according to CoinGecko data.

The slide dragged the total crypto market capitalization down by 5.9% to $3.64 trillion, its lowest level since July, according to CoinGecko data.

The sell-off appears to have been sparked by a flight to safety amid growing fears over the stability of the U.S. regional banking sector, Derek Lim, head of research at market-making firm Caladan, told Decrypt.

He explained that the panic originated from traditional finance, where reports of loan book issues at lenders, including Zions Bancorporation and Western Alliance, triggered a sharp selloff in bank shares, which subsequently bled into risk assets, Lim explained.

“As concerns spread through the financial sector, risk appetite weakened pretty severely across all markets,” Lim said. “Naturally, crypto dropped as traders initiated a flight to safety.”

Altcoins, still fragile from the previous week’s flash crash, suffered significant corrections. Ethereum dropped by 7.4% on the day, while XRP, Solana, Tron, Dogecoin, and Cardano experienced losses ranging from 4% to 9%. BNB declined more significantly, dropping 12.3% over the 24-hour period.

The widespread sell-off forced a massive unwind of leveraged positions. Total liquidations across the market reached $1.09 billion, with Bitcoin and Ethereum traders accounting for over 55% of the total, according to CoinGlass data.

Despite the worrying signals from traditional finance, Lim maintains an optimistic outlook for the broader crypto markets, citing “bullish market structure.”

Lim’s measured outlook finds some support in market sentiment, as users on prediction market Myriad, launched by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, placed a 66% chance on Bitcoin closing October with more green candles than Ethereum—suggesting underlying optimism for a potential recovery.

However, in the short term traders remain bearish. A market on whether Bitcoin’s next move would take it to $120,000 or $100,000 shows a steep increase in the chance of the latter outcome, surging to 68% Friday morning.