Bitcoin slides as KOSPI crash fuels global sell-off

Bitcoin Falls Below $63,000 as KOSPI Crash Fuels Global Risk-Off Wave

Bitcoin slid below $63,000 on Tuesday as a sweeping sell-off in South Korean equities rippled across global risk markets, dragging cryptocurrencies lower alongside technology stocks and other speculative assets. The drop erased a brief recovery attempt from the prior day, when the digital asset had briefly pushed above $65,000 before sellers regained control.

KOSPI Plunge Triggers Circuit Breaker

South Korea’s Kospi index crashed nearly 10 percent on Tuesday, closing at 8,203.84 after the Korea Exchange suspended trading for 20 minutes when the benchmark breached the 8 percent threshold. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led the rout, falling more than 10 percent and 12 percent respectively, as foreign investors dumped nearly 5 trillion won of Kospi shares during the session.upi

The sell-off came after a record-setting rally that had pushed the Kospi to all-time highs. VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, told Business Standard that “when you have such unprecedented, steep rallies in the market, and when the rallies are driven by two stocks in South Korea, Samsung and SK Hynix, corrections are also steep.” Stretched valuations in AI and semiconductor stocks, excessive retail borrowing, and heavy foreign outflows all contributed to the downturn.business-standard

U.S. equity futures also slumped, with Nasdaq futures down roughly 3 percent in early trading, according to Bloomberg.youtube

Crypto Liquidations Exceed $700 Million

Bitcoin slid from above $64,000 to just under $62,000 around 4:30 a.m. EST on Tuesday, triggering a cascade of forced selling across crypto exchanges. Total crypto liquidations surpassed $700 million, with long positions accounting for approximately $595 million, or 80 percent, of the losses, according to data cited by Bitcoin.com. Bitcoin alone saw $193 million in liquidations.bitcoin

Ethereum dropped roughly 6 percent to near $1,650, while several altcoins including Worldcoin and Stellar fell 9 to 10 percent. The total crypto market capitalization shed about $120 billion in a single day, slipping below $2.23 trillion.kucoin

ETF Outflows Add Persistent Headwinds

The Tuesday decline compounded an already difficult stretch for Bitcoin-linked investment products. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a rolling 30-day net outflow of approximately $6.35 billion, the largest for any comparable period since the funds began trading in January 2024, according to Galaxy Research data reported by Yahoo Finance. The heaviest bleeding occurred during a 13-day consecutive outflow streak from May 15 through June 3, which alone accounted for roughly $4.4 billion in net redemptions.kucoin

Analysts noted that while the KOSPI rout did not directly cause Bitcoin’s decline, both markets were caught in the same broader retreat from technology and risk-sensitive assets. With Bitcoin now trading well below its key 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day moving averages, some analysts see the $50,000 level as the next potential support if the downtrend persists.capital