The cryptocurrency market witnessed a tumultuous upheaval as bearish sentiment engulfed global markets. Bitcoin (BTC) cascaded below the $60,000 threshold over the weekend, plummeting further to $49,300 during Monday’s Asian trading hours as investors withdrew from risk-laden assets. The flagship cryptocurrency has depreciated nearly 15% in the past 24 hours, with a tentative rebound to approximately $52,000. Concurrently, Ether (ETH) suffered a precipitous 22% drop to $2,100, marking its most significant one-day decline since 2021. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), which tracks the performance of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, witnessed a nearly 20% decline, with leading altcoins such as Solana (SOL) and Near Protocol (NEAR) experiencing losses between 20% and 25%.

QCP analysts likened the scenario to being struck by a ‘perfect storm’ in their market update. The initial trigger for this sentiment shift was Friday’s U.S. economic and employment data, which ignited recessionary fears. This was compounded by escalating tensions in the Middle East. The Japanese yen surged against the U.S. dollar, prompting a broad unwinding of trades across various asset classes, with Asian equity indices facing historic declines on Monday. Notably, Taiwan’s index recorded its worst single-day performance in 57 years. QCP also highlighted that a substantial sell-off by the crypto trading behemoth Jump exacerbated the market’s downward spiral.

Stocks of companies related to cryptocurrencies plummeted in tandem with digital asset prices. The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) fell by over 9% in pre-market trading in the U.S., while MicroStrategy (MSTR), known for its aggressive bitcoin acquisition strategy and holding over 1% of the total bitcoin supply, saw a 13% drop. CoinShares, a digital asset management firm, experienced a 7.5% decline in Sweden. U.S.-listed cryptocurrency miners Marathon Digital (MARA) and Iren (IREN) each lost nearly 14%, Hut 8 (HUT) dropped 12%, and Riot Platforms (RIOT) declined by 11%.

Derivatives traders faced substantial liquidations as prices nosedived. Crypto futures saw over $1 billion in liquidations in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data. Liquidated Ether futures exceeded $340 million, while bitcoin futures led with losses surpassing $420 million. Futures contracts tracking Solana’s SOL, Dogecoin (DOGE), XRP (XRP), and Pepe (PEPE) collectively accounted for $75 million in liquidations.