SINGAPORE/LONDON/NEW YORK, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Bitcoin plunged on Thursday, its decline accelerating amid weakening risk sentiment driven in part by volatility in precious metals and a broad selloff in tech shares.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell to a low of $66,675.12, its weakest since October 2024, a month before Republican Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, having signaled his intention to support crypto on the campaign trail. It was last down 6.5% at $67,817.
All told, the global crypto market has lost $2 trillion in value since hitting a peak of $4.379 trillion in early October, CoinGecko data showed, with some $800 billion wiped out in the last month alone.
Bitcoin has already fallen 11% for the week, taking its losses for the year so far to 23%. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, was down more than 7% at $1,973 on Thursday. Ether has fallen nearly 14% this week, with losses of roughly 34% so far this year.
Sentiment on crypto was affected by the latest selling in metals and stocks. Gold and silver, for instance, have become more volatile as a result of leveraged buying and speculative flows. Silver, for one, fell as much as 16.6% to a low of $73.41.
