Crypto Crash Today: Why Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana Are All Down Double Digits Sam DaoduThu, June 4, 2026 at 10:20 PM UTC 0 Ground Picture / Shutterstock.comQuick Read The crypto market cap has dropped from $2.53 trillion to $2.25 trillion in a week, with Bitcoin testing $61,500 overnight and trading more than 50% below its $126,000 October 2025 high. There are three main drivers of the market downturn. Strategy sold Bitcoin for the first time in nearly four years, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs extended their outflow streak to 13 trading days, and $1.
Crypto Crash Today: Why Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana Are All Down Double Digits
Sam DaoduThu, June 4, 2026 at 10:20 PM UTC
0
Ground Picture / Shutterstock.comQuick Read -
The crypto market cap has dropped from $2.53 trillion to $2.25 trillion in a week, with Bitcoin testing $61,500 overnight and trading more than 50% below its $126,000 October 2025 high.
There are three main drivers of the market downturn. Strategy sold Bitcoin for the first time in nearly four years, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs extended their outflow streak to 13 trading days, and $1.76 billion in leveraged positions got liquidated in 24 hours.
Markets are now pricing a 68.8% probability of zero Fed rate cuts in 2026, and fresh U.S.-Iran strikes on June 2 have shaken the fragile ceasefire that had been holding since April.
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The crypto market cap stood at $2.53 trillion last Wednesday. As of this morning, it has dropped to $2.25 trillion, with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) testing $61,500 overnight before rebounding to $63K.
There's quite a few reasons for the market plunge. Strategy broke a years-long rule and sold Bitcoin for the first time in nearly four years, while U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs are now on their longest outflow streak ever. On top of that, $1.76 billion in leveraged positions got liquidated in 24 hours, and fresh U.S. strikes on Iran have rattled the fragile ceasefire that had been holding since April.
Every major coin is now down double digits on the month. Below is the breakdown of how Bitcoin, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) are performing right now.
How Far Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana Have Fallen This Week
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Bitcoin is showing the worst of the market downturn. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap is now trading at $63,436, down 3.2% in 24 hours and down 22.3% on the month. The bigger picture is even worse, with Bitcoin trading more than 50% below its $126,000 all-time high.
Meanwhile, Ethereum and XRP are doing no better. ETH is trading at $1,768 after a 25.8% slide on the month, and XRP at $1.17 has hit a 15-week low, down 17.3% on the month. Both followed Bitcoin's slide and ended up losing even more ground.
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Solana took the hardest single-day hit of the four cryptocurrencies. SOL is down 4.6% in 24 hours alone and 20.9% over the past month, now trading at $68.38. High-beta altcoins like Solana and XRP amplify Bitcoin's moves, and on the way down, that means they fall steeper than the rest of the market.
Beyond the price drops, the leverage washout was also ugly. $1.76 billion in leveraged positions got liquidated in 24 hours, with $1.50 billion of that from long positions getting forced out. Bitcoin took $773 million of the damage, Ethereum $482 million, and Solana $88 million. Traders went into this week heavily long, and the market punished them for it.
Why Strategy's First Bitcoin Sale in Four Years Spooked the Market
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For nearly four years, Strategy (the company formerly known as MicroStrategy) was the loudest voice in Bitcoin, telling everyone to buy and never sell. The company built its corporate identity around accumulation, stacking 843,706 BTC over five years and turning Michael Saylor into the face of the institutional bullish thesis on Bitcoin. On Monday, that changed.
Strategy disclosed in an SEC 8-K filing on June 1 that it had sold 32 Bitcoin between May 26 and May 31 for $2.5 million, at an average price of $77,135. The amount represents 0.004% of the company's holdings. That is not a number that moves markets on its own, but the signal it sent did.
That said, this was actually not panic selling. Saylor pre-announced the move on May 5, telling investors that Strategy would probably sell some bitcoin to pay a dividend just to inoculate the market and send the message that "we did it." The 32 BTC went to fund distributions on STRC, which is the company's perpetual preferred stock. So, the whole sequence was planned and telegraphed for weeks.
However, none of that planning protected the stock. MSTR fell nearly 6% on Monday, then dropped another 7% on Wednesday as Bitcoin slid below $62,000. Two Wall Street analysts called the sale economically immaterial, but the narrative break was the bigger damage.
For years, the "Saylor never sells" rule had been one of the arguments for holding Bitcoin through volatility. But the recent sale has made that argument look weaker, and the timing came right in the middle of the Bitcoin ETF outflow streak and a macro shock.
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Bitcoin ETFs Just Posted Their Longest Outflow Streak Ever
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U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs were already on a record streak when last week ended, and they have now extended it further. The 10-day outflow run that closed May has stretched to 13 trading days as of June 3, deepening what was already the longest withdrawal streak since the funds launched in January 2024. The structural bid that had supported Bitcoin through every previous selloff is now selling instead of buying.
The pace has been intense. On June 3 alone, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $396.6 million, led by BlackRock's IBIT at $342.3 million and Fidelity's FBTC at $54.3 million. And the day before, outflows hit $519 million. Since May 20, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have lost over $3 billion in cumulative net outflows, or roughly 40,000 BTC by holdings.
Bitcoin ETF assets under management have dropped from around $109 billion to $85 billion during the streak, marking a 22% decline in three weeks. Ethereum ETFs have run their own parallel bleed, posting their 17th consecutive outflow day on June 3, with cumulative net inflows shrinking to $11.24 billion.
The selling is not only happening in ETFs either. According to on-chain data, whales holding between 10 and 10,000 Bitcoin sold roughly 25,000 BTC in the past week alone. So it's not just an ETF problem, but a wider sell-off happening across the board.
Why Sticky Inflation and Iran Strikes Are Holding Crypto Back
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Macro conditions have only made things worse for crypto. Inflation came in at 3.8% year-over-year in April, the hottest reading since May 2023, while wholesale prices jumped 6%, the largest increase since December 2022. Energy prices are up 17.9% on the year and gasoline is up 28.4%, which has pushed real wages negative for the first time since 2023.
The Federal Reserve's response has been to hold. The April FOMC vote was 8-4 to keep rates at 3.50%-3.75%, marking the most dissents since 1992. Markets are now pricing a 68.8% probability of zero rate cuts in all of 2026, according to Polymarket. New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, sworn in on May 22, has not had time to establish his own approach yet, which adds even more uncertainty.
Iran is the wildcard nobody can read properly. On Sunday, June 1, Iran suspended talks with the U.S. over Israel's actions in Lebanon. Then Trump publicly contradicted that the same day, saying talks continue at a "rapid pace."
Then on Tuesday, June 2, Iran fired missiles at Kuwait and Bahrain, and the U.S. retaliated late that night with strikes on an Iranian military facility on Qeshm Island. Iranian drones hit Kuwait International Airport on Wednesday, killing one and injuring 63. Three days later, neither side has clarified whether the ceasefire still holds.
The result keeps the inflation loop intact. WTI crude is at $94.99, and Brent at $97.07. The U.S. has drained 14% of its Strategic Petroleum Reserve trying to ease supply pressure. As long as oil stays at these levels, the Fed cannot cut, and as long as the Fed cannot cut, macro pressure will keep weighing on the crypto market.
Is the Bottom In, or Could Crypto Fall Further?
The selloff looks closer to capitulation than the start of a new leg down. Bitcoin tested $61,500 overnight and bounced, and that level is close to the 200-week moving average, which has held as support in past bear cycles. A 13-day ETF outflow streak, $1.76 billion in liquidations in a single day, and a narrative-breaking Strategy sale are the bearish drivers weighing on the market right now. But whether they mark a bottom or signal more downside is still unclear.
Despite all that, there are a couple of events coming up this month that could change the bearish sentiment in the market. The next CPI release on June 10 will show whether inflation is cooling or staying sticky. Then the FOMC meeting on June 16-17 gives the first read on how Warsh sets policy and the dot plot.
Moreover, the CLARITY Act has cleared the Senate Banking Committee and is now on the Senate calendar. If a floor vote is scheduled soon and the bill eventually gets signed into law, it'll give institutional money the regulatory clearance it needs to allocate funds into crypto at a large scale. Until at least one of those breaks in crypto's favor, expect more chop in the $60,000 to $65,000 range for Bitcoin and continued pressure on altcoins.
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Source: "AOL Money"
Source: Money
Published: June 5, 2026 at 02:18AM on Source: RED MAG
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