Bitcoin Falls Below $5K as Market Pain Deepens
Bitcoin fell below $5,000, but some investors maintain hopes for their long-term prospects.

UPDATE (March 13, 02:44 UTC): Bitcoin's price briefly sank below $4,000 before rebounding to between $5,300 and $5,500 in a 30-minute period. The rapid price rise followed complaints on Twitter that crypto derivatives trading platform Bitmex had gone offline, though it is unclear whether this is related.
Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader cryptocurrency market continued this week's sharp decline, with the world's largest crypto falling to around $4,800.
The crypto space echoed the broader global trading markets: Equities have been in free-fall mode, prompting another halt to trading as the S&P 500 suffered another 9.5 percent drop on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is also down around 10 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 9.43 percent to around 7,201 basis points.
The Asian markets fared no better as the Australian ASX All Ordinaries dropped 7.23 percent while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 4.4 percent and is set to continue its slide into deeper losses amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Nearly $63 billion has been wiped from the markets as the total market capitalization of all crypto fell from $223 billion to $161 billion, with BTC falling more than 39 percent over the past 24 hours to levels not seen since April 2019.
As for other top crypto assets, ethereum

Balances containing 100 or more bitcoin have fallen to their lowest point since Dec. 31, 2019, signaling a flight to cash as other supposed safe-haven assets like gold fell 3.5 percent.
In the near term, investors expect major volatility. However, many express optimism when considering the long-term.
"Not a market for the faint-hearted. Staggering losses all round," CEO of BCB Group Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie said.
"Ahead of the halving we have a half-price sale and it won’t last long. The market is oversold on correlated global economic jitters and it’s not hard to see a short term correction," Landsberg-Sadie added.
However, a small glimmer of hope remains for those high-net-worth individuals, Landsberg-Sadie claims, who continue to put in purchase orders for bitcoin, despite the economic turmoil happening all around.
"Those four were all purchase orders. Of the high-net-worth individual buyers, two were U.K, one Swiss."
Others stated it was the long-term perspective that offered more promising returns on their investment as traders await the bloodbath in global markets to conclude.
"In the long term, we see this period as an opportunity for many investors to get exposure to the asset class at attractive prices,” said Asim Ahmad, founding partner and co-chief investment officer at Eterna Capital.
Ido Sadeh Man, founder and chairman of the board at Saga Foundation, said conditions from a macro perspective look shaky at best.
"The near-future looks hyper volatile and even chaotic," he said. "This will only continue to weigh on the global economy, and ultimately hurt the pockets of individuals. The only available tool for corporates and households alike is to look at diversification strategies of their assets and currencies, to protect and preserve their value."

On the technical side, BTC has broken down from a head and shoulders pattern that had been staring down traders since March 8's initial breakdown from $8,900 to just under $8,000.
High levels of spot volume as well as a dip into extreme oversold territory, as seen by the daily RSI, a measure of trend strength and momentum, do not bode well for crypto in the short term although a bounce may be on the cards, once the bloodletting ceases.
"In the short term we expect the bitcoin price to follow the market sentiment driven by monetary and fiscal policies in response to COVID-19 developments," Ahmad added.
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Exchange Review - March 2025

CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.
What to know:
Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.
- Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
- Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions.
- Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.
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What to know:
- Ethena's USDe becomes fifth stablecoin to surpass $10 billion market cap in just 609 days, while Tether's dominance continues to slip.