Bitcoin, ether lead $1 billion liquidation losses as AI trade keeps going

Bitcoin dropped to $59,175 overnight, its lowest point since early June, before recovering to about $61,500 by Thursday morning, per CoinDesk data. Nearly $1 billion worth of futures positions were liquidated across crypto majors, such as bitcoin, ether, solana, and others, to tokenized versions of stocks, such as Micron Technology Inc (MU) and Sandisk (SNDK).

The dip triggered roughly $430 million in long liquidations on bitcoin-tracked futures, or bets on higher prices that were automatically closed as the price fell.

No single catalyst drove the move. Bitcoin has lost about 10% since Monday’s peak near $65,500, pulled lower by the same forces that have dominated all week: a hawkish Fed, six straight weeks of ETF outflows, thinning summer liquidity, and a quarter-end options expiry on June 30 that traders say is keeping the market unstable.

Major market-maker Wintermute had flagged $59,000 as the bear-market low to watch in its Tuesday’s note.

The bounce came from outside crypto. Micron Technology reported quarterly earnings after the close that shattered analyst estimates, sending its shares sharply higher and lifting the broader memory chip complex.

SK Hynix separately disclosed plans for a U.S. stock listing seeking roughly $29 billion, one of the largest offerings ever. Samsung and Kioxia rallied in Asia Thursday morning.

The same AI chip trade that sent the Kospi down 10% on Monday on fears the spending boom was stalling is now the thing steadying crypto, with Micron’s results reading as confirmation that demand for AI memory is structural, not speculative.

The quarter-end remains the week’s live risk. Bitcoin’s $59,000 low held, but $1.6 billion in leveraged long positions sit clustered below $58,000, per CoinGlass, meaning a break there would accelerate the drop.

Thursday’s PCE inflation print, the Fed’s preferred price gauge, is the next data point that could move the market in either direction.