Bitcoin pulled back from the brink. After slipping to around $59,200 late Wednesday, the largest cryptocurrency recovered above $60,000 on Thursday, according to CoinDesk and CoinGecko, as a rebound in AI-linked stocks lifted appetite for risk across markets.

What drove the bounce

The recovery tracked a broader risk-on turn in equities. Shares in Micron jumped after the chipmaker's results beat forecasts, lifting AI and chip names — including Asian memory makers — and that improvement in sentiment spilled into crypto. Ether recouped some of its recent decline to trade near the high $1,600s and solana steadied around $69, CoinDesk and CoinGecko data showed, though both remained lower on the week. The move was uneven: weaker tokens such as XRP and dogecoin stayed down sharply over seven days.

The slide that preceded the bounce had familiar causes. Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro, tied bitcoin's drop to outflows from U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, a more hawkish Federal Reserve and a dollar trading at multi-month highs, CoinDesk reported. Boursel earlier covered bitcoin's drift toward $59,000 on the back of that dollar strength.

The next test: core PCE

Traders' focus has already shifted to a single data release. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis is due to publish the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index for May on Thursday morning. PCE is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge: unlike the better-known Consumer Price Index, it adjusts for how shoppers substitute toward cheaper goods when prices rise, and the "core" version excludes volatile food and energy to show the underlying trend.

The reading matters because forecasts are uncomfortably high. CoinDesk cited consensus estimates of roughly 4.1% for headline PCE and 3.3%–3.4% for core — both well above the Fed's 2% target — and framed the print as a "line in the sand" for bitcoin. A hotter number would reinforce expectations that the Fed keeps rates high or raises them, supporting the dollar and pressuring crypto; a softer one could ease those fears. Kuptsikevich flagged $61,800–$62,000 as the resistance bitcoin would need to clear if the mood holds, per CoinDesk. We do not forecast where prices go; both outcomes are live, and the data will settle which way the odds tilt.

The bigger picture

This is the same macro tug-of-war that has defined crypto for much of 2026: a strong dollar and sticky inflation pulling prices down, periodic risk-on rallies — often led by AI and chip stocks — pulling them back up. Bitcoin reached close to $67,000 earlier in June before reversing, CoinDesk noted, making the dip toward $59,000 a meaningful retracement rather than a crash.

For now, bitcoin is sitting on a round-number threshold that tends to attract both buyers defending support and sellers trimming risk before a major data point. With the inflation figures due within hours of Thursday's open, the bounce looks less like a turning point than a pause — one that Thursday's print will either confirm or undo.