Bitcoin (BTC) staged a modest recovery during the Asian trading hours on Friday, rebounding amid a pervasive global asset sell-off exacerbated by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

BTC experienced a sharp decline, plummeting to $62,500 during late U.S. trading hours on Thursday. However, it reversed these losses and hovered just below $64,000 at 6:30 UTC, aligning closely with its 50-day moving average—a critical support level for many traders.

“If the downturn persists, the price action around the $63K and $61K thresholds, which are proximate to the 50 and 200-day moving averages, will be pivotal,” remarked Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at FxPro, in correspondence with CoinDesk. “A breach of this support could pave the way to $55K, a rather daunting prospect.”

“Historically, August is among the most challenging months for BTC. Over the past 13 years, bitcoin has only concluded the month positively five times, compared to eight times negatively. The average monthly decline stands at 15.4%, while the average gain is 26%,” he elaborated.

The broader cryptocurrency market mirrored this trend, with significant declines observed over the past 24 hours amid a slump in global equities. Ether (ETH) decreased by 1.6%, while major tokens XRP and Solana’s SOL experienced drops of up to 8%. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20), an index tracking the 20 largest digital assets by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, fell by 2.44%.

This broad BTC sell-off was also reflected in the performance of several bitcoin exchange-traded funds, according to market data.

Meanwhile, the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 ended Thursday with a 2.6% decline, and the S&P 500 Index fell by 1.4%, nearly erasing Wednesday’s 1.6% gains due to mounting concerns over the U.S. economy and the future earnings of technology companies.

Elsewhere, Japan’s Topix index plunged by 6% on Friday, marking its steepest decline since 2016.

In an analytical note shared with CoinDesk, Presto Research highlighted MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) remarkable performance in the second quarter of 2024, attributed to a 3.7% increase in BTC per share through “intelligent leverage,” a planned $2 billion equity offering for BTC acquisitions, and the adoption of fair-value accounting for BTC by the first quarter of 2025, which is expected to benefit the broader BTC market.

Year-to-date, MicroStrategy’s stock has surged by 118%, while BTC has appreciated by 45%, as reported by CoinDesk Indices data.