SINGAPORE, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Bitcoin bounced from a 16-month low on Friday after testing the key $60,000 level, as a global rout in technology stocks that washed out risky bets across asset classes showed tentative signs of easing. The world's largest cryptocurrency was last up 3.3% to $65,198.20, clawing back its losses after having slid 5% to hit a low of $60,008.52 earlier in the session. Still, bitcoin remains pinned near its weakest level since October 2024, a month before Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, having signalled his intention to support crypto on the campaign trail. "Bitcoin's been going down since October (2025), maybe you could ask if it was the canary in the coalmine, or a coincidence," said Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone in Melbourne. "A lot of these big crowded positions are being unwound very, very quickly." Ether was last up nearly 4% at $1,919.37, having similarly slid close to a 10-month low of $1,751.94 earlier in the session. The global crypto market has lost some $2 trillion in value since hitting a peak of $4.379 trillion in early October, CoinGecko data showed, with more than $1 trillion wiped out over the past month alone. Bitcoin was on track to shed 15% for the week, taking its losses for the year so far to 26%. Meanwhile, ether was headed for a weekly decline of 16%, with losses of nearly 36% so far this year. Sentiment on crypto had been affected by the latest selling in precious metals and stocks. Gold and silver, for instance, have become more volatile as a result of leveraged buying and speculative flows. But some of those moves retraced on Friday as selling pressure abated. Bitcoin's fortunes have been tied to the broader tech sector for some time. The price tended to rise, particularly on the back of investor enthusiasm over artificial intelligence. "Bitcoin drifting back toward $60,000 is not crypto dying, it is the bill coming due for Treasuries and funds that treated bitcoin as a one-way asset without real risk controls, just as we have seen sharp corrections in self-proclaimed safe-haven assets like gold and silver when leverage and narrative ran ahead of reality," said Joshua Chu, co-chair of the Hong Kong Web3 Association. "Those who bet too big, borrowed too much or assumed prices only go up are now finding out the hard way what real market volatility and risk management look like." To be sure, cryptocurrencies have struggled for months since a record crash last October sent bitcoin tumbling from a peak. That has resulted in investor sentiment cooling off on digital assets. Analysts from Deutsche Bank said in a note that U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs witnessed outflows of more than $3 billion in January, following outflows of about $2 billion and $7 billion in December and November, respectively. (Reporting by Rae Wee and Tom Westbrook; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Michael Perry)
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