Mumbai: Bitcoin prices fell sharply on Wednesday, briefly dipping below the $100,000 mark amid heavy selling in the spot market. The fall came as part of a broader global sell-off in risk assets, with investors increasingly worried about overvalued markets and fading risk appetite.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency dropped 3.7 per cent to trade at $101,822 after touching an intra-day low of $99,010.06 -- its weakest level since mid-June. Other major digital assets also traded lower, with Ethereum sliding 6.76 per cent to $3,331.65, Solana down 3.16 per cent at $157.66, XRP declining 3.16 per cent to $2.24, and Dogecoin slipping 1.47 per cent to $0.165.
Bitcoin has now officially entered bear market territory, falling more than 20 per cent from its record high of $126,186 reached in early October. According to data from analytics firm CoinGlass, more than $1.27 billion worth of leveraged crypto positions were liquidated earlier this week, most of them being long positions as traders betting on further price gains faced steep losses.
In total, nearly $2 billion in crypto positions were wiped out in the past 24 hours, although the scale was smaller compared to the $19 billion liquidations seen during last month’s crash. Reports suggest that open interest in Bitcoin futures remains subdued, while options traders are increasingly betting on further downside, with several targeting the $80,000 level through put contracts. The latest slide in Bitcoin coincided with weakness across global equity markets.
Fears of an artificial intelligence–driven bubble in tech valuations and concerns about stretched stock prices sparked broad selling on Wall Street. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 251.44 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 47,085.24.
The S&P 500 declined 80.42 points, or 1.17 per cent, to 6,771.55, while the Nasdaq Composite plunged 486.09 points, or 2.04 per cent, to close at 23,348.64. Analysts said the correction in crypto mirrors the growing caution across global markets, as investors brace for a potential pullback after months of rapid gains driven by optimism over AI and digital assets.
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