Crypto markets steadied Friday with Bitcoin and Ethereum edging higher, clawing back a portion of Thursday’s steep losses. While prices remain below early-week levels, buyers returned across majors and large-cap altcoins, hinting at stabilizing risk appetite after the sharpest crypto drawdown since 2022.
Prices Edge Higher After a Sharp Crypto Selloff
Bitcoin rebounded above $68,000 after briefly undercutting $60,000 in the prior session, a level traders had flagged as pivotal support. Market trackers at CoinDesk and CoinMarketCap showed broad-based green prints into the morning, though most assets are still nursing sizable week-to-date declines. The reset followed a wave of forced deleveraging and profit-taking that hit both spot and derivatives venues.
Data providers including CoinGlass reported heavy liquidations on Thursday, largely impacting leveraged longs, with the pace easing materially on Friday as funding rates cooled toward neutral. That moderation in derivatives stress typically accompanies the first stages of a spot-led rebound.
Bitcoin Holds Key Support As Buyers Step In
Technically, the defense of the $60,000 area was crucial for sentiment. Multiple desks characterized the bounce as a textbook response to a well-watched level, with dip buyers stepping in as liquidity improved during U.S. trading hours. Kaiko has noted in recent research that BTC’s sharpest reversals often coincide with derivatives positioning resetting and order-book depth recovering—conditions that appeared to line up into Friday.
Flows also helped the tone. BitMEX Research has tracked a swingy pattern in U.S. spot bitcoin ETF activity this week, with outflows midweek giving way to steadier sessions. While definitive flow totals are not yet clear, traders said the absence of new, large net selling from institutional channels reduced downside pressure.
Ethereum Stabilizes but Trails Bitcoin in Friday Rebound
Ethereum lagged the BTC bounce, recovering to roughly $1,950 after plunging near $1,700 during the worst of the selloff. The round-number $2,000 level remains a near-term hurdle. Glassnode’s on-chain gauges have recently shown that short-term holders tend to dominate realized losses during fast pullbacks; Friday’s steadier tape suggests that pressure is fading, though ETH’s underperformance versus BTC keeps cross-asset momentum mixed.
Developers and infrastructure metrics continue to matter for ETH. Activity on layer-2 networks has stayed resilient through volatility, according to periodic updates from analytics firms like L2Beat and Dune community dashboards. If throughput and fee conditions remain favorable, spot demand could get a secondary tailwind once market stress fully cools.
Altcoins See Uneven Recoveries Across Major Sectors
Moves outside the top two were choppier. Solana bounced after tumbling into the $70s, a zone last seen more than a year ago, while Dogecoin rebounded off a low near $0.08. Performance was split across sectors: major smart-contract platforms and large-cap memecoins caught bids, but thin-liquidity names remained whippy as market makers widened spreads.
DeFi benchmarks were steadier, with total value locked showing modest improvement on several chains, based on aggregator snapshots. Still, the market remains highly selective; traders continue to prioritize assets with strong on-chain activity, deep liquidity, and clear catalysts over smaller, more speculative tokens.
What Pros Are Watching Next for Crypto Momentum
Heading into the weekend, desks are focused on three gauges: support and resistance around BTC $60,000–$70,000, the path of ETF flows, and derivatives positioning. If open interest rebuilds without a surge in positive funding, the bounce could broaden. Conversely, a quick snapback in leverage would raise the risk of another shakeout.
Options markets also bear watching. Deribit’s skew measures have been tilting less bearish, a sign that demand for downside hedges is easing. A further normalization in implied volatility would reinforce the view that Thursday’s washout was a positioning event rather than the start of a deeper trend change.
For now, the takeaway is straightforward: the market absorbed a forceful flush, key levels held, and buyers are testing the upside. Sustaining momentum will likely depend on steady spot demand and calmer derivatives metrics rather than a surge in leverage. As one veteran analyst put it this morning, the next 48 hours should reveal whether this is a routine retrace or the base of a new leg higher.