bitcoin continued to lose ground on Friday, falling below a key average as risk remained on the defensive, pushing Treasury yields to multi-month lows.
The leading cryptocurrency by market value fell below its 200-day simple moving average of around $107,500, extending losses to $106,900, CoinDesk data shows. Prices were down 7% during the week, following last week’s 6.5% drop. Other tokens such as XRP, SOL, and ETH also extended their losses, bringing their respective weekly declines to between 9% and 12%.
BTC’s losses followed more than $500 million in outflows from U.S.-listed spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) amid growing signs of liquidity stress in the financial system.
The price weakness is consistent with bearish signals on technical charts that suggest scope for a drop below $100,000 in the coming days.
Futures linked to Wall Street’s benchmark stock index, the S&P 500, fell almost 1%. The index was dragged down by bank stocks on Thursday after Zions Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp disclosed links to exposure to fraud-linked loans, stoking concerns of greater fraud in the system.
Risk aversion catalyzed demand for bonds, causing the 10-year US Treasury yield to fall to 3.94%, the lowest since April. Bond prices and yields move in the opposite direction.
Earlier this week, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s manufacturing index plunged 36 points to -12.8, signaling weakening activity and raising concerns about the economy. That also increased demand for longer-dated Treasury notes.
