Major cryptocurrencies remained under pressure as weak sentiment and broader market volatility continued to weigh on digital assets, extending a period of subdued performance and limited buying interest.
Bitcoin was trading around $66,300, extending its recent decline amid persistent selling pressure and cautious risk appetite.
The cryptocurrency had fallen to around $65,000 on Thursday, highlighting the fragility of recent price action.
Ethereum slipped below the $2,000 level and hovered near $1,940, as demand remained soft and momentum stayed tilted to the downside.
Other major tokens also struggled. Solana was trading near $78, underperforming larger peers as investors reduced exposure to high-beta assets.
XRP held around $1.35 but remained under pressure, while Dogecoin was steady near $0.09, reflecting muted speculative activity.
Tech weakness spills into crypto
The latest decline in digital assets mirrored weakness in US equities, particularly in technology shares.
The Nasdaq Composite fell about 2% on Thursday, while the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF tumbled 3%.
The software-focused fund is now down 21% year to date, as investors reassess valuations in a sector facing growing competition from artificial intelligence tools with increasingly advanced coding capabilities.
The pullback in tech has reduced risk appetite more broadly, contributing to pressure on cryptocurrencies.
Over the past month, Bitcoin has fallen roughly 28%, diverging sharply from other asset classes.
During the same period, gold reclaimed the $5,000 psychological level, while the S&P 500 has traded just about 1% below its all-time high.
The contrast has underscored the uneven performance across markets.
Although Bitcoin managed to halt its earlier slide toward $60,000, it has struggled to regain upward momentum and remains confined below the $70,000 level.
Jobs data reinforces higher-rate outlook
Macroeconomic data has added to the cautious tone. US nonfarm payrolls released on Wednesday showed job growth exceeded forecasts in January, pointing to continued resilience in the labour market.
The unemployment rate remained near multi-month lows, while wage growth stayed firm.
The data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep borrowing costs elevated for longer.
Following the report, traders pared back bets on near-term interest rate cuts, with market pricing indicating reduced odds of easing until June.
Higher-for-longer rate expectations typically weigh on risk-sensitive assets such as cryptocurrencies, which do not generate yield and tend to benefit from looser financial conditions.
On Thursday, investors also received a higher-than-expected weekly jobless claims reading.
Attention is now focused on Friday’s US Consumer Price Index report, which could provide further clarity on inflation trends and the outlook for monetary policy.
Standard Chartered warns of further downside
Against this backdrop, Standard Chartered lowered its near-term outlook for digital assets, warning that recent price action has been “challenging, to say the least.”
“We expect further price capitulation in the next few months,” said Geoff Kendrick, projecting that Bitcoin could fall to or just below $50,000 and Ethereum to around $1,400.
Kendrick noted that digital asset exchange-traded fund holdings have declined in an “orderly manner,” with average Bitcoin ETF positions down about 25% and total holdings falling by nearly 100,000 coins from their October 2025 peak.
With the average purchase price close to $90,000, many investors are now in “sharp unrealised loss territory,” making them “more likely to sell, rather than buy the dip, for now,” he said.
Despite near-term caution, Kendrick maintained a constructive longer-term view.
“Once the lows have been reached, we expect the asset class to recover for the rest of 2026,” he said in the note.
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