---
title: "Bitcoin Posts First Sub-$60,000 Close Since 2024 as Strategy Loses Its Premium"
description: "A broad retreat across risk assets pushed Bitcoin below a closely watched threshold on Thursday, draining exchange-traded funds, wiping out leveraged bets and stripping Michael Saylor's Strategy of the market premium it had carried for more than a year."
category: "Crypto"
category_url: https://boursel.com/category/crypto
author: "Rafael Ortiz"
published: 2026-06-27T01:48:57.000Z
updated: 2026-06-27T01:48:57.000Z
canonical: https://boursel.com/article/bitcoin-posts-first-sub-60000-close-since-2024-as-strategy-loses-its-premium
tags: ["bitcoin", "ethereum", "strategy", "michael-saylor", "etf", "crypto-selloff"]
---
# Bitcoin Posts First Sub-$60,000 Close Since 2024 as Strategy Loses Its Premium

A broad retreat across risk assets pushed Bitcoin below a closely watched threshold on Thursday, draining exchange-traded funds, wiping out leveraged bets and stripping Michael Saylor's Strategy of the market premium it had carried for more than a year.

Bitcoin slid through one of the market's most-watched price markers on Thursday, briefly touching $58,000 before clawing back to just under $60,000. The damage was already done: the day's closing price landed below $60,000 for the [first time since September 2024](https://cointelegraph.com/markets/bitcoin-sees-first-close-below-60k-since-q3-2024-with-tech-stocks-in-deep-bear-market-zone). The largest cryptocurrency is now down roughly 20% since May and has lost about half its value from a record near $126,000 set last October.

## A risk-off day across markets

The drop did not happen in isolation. It came alongside a broad retreat from risk assets, the category of investments — stocks, crypto, high-yield debt — that tend to fall together when investors turn cautious. South Korea's Kospi index tumbled 9% and triggered its circuit-breakers, automatic trading halts meant to slow a panic, for the second time in a week. U.S. technology shares sold off in tandem.

Research firm QCP Capital told clients that inflation "remains the binding constraint" for risk assets, a reference to the Federal Reserve's recent decision to lift its 2026 inflation forecast and signal a tougher stance on interest rates. Higher-for-longer rates raise the appeal of safe assets like cash and government bonds, and dull demand for speculative ones like crypto.

## A cascade of forced selling

The decline set off a chain reaction in the leveraged corners of the market. More than [$1.1 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated](https://decrypt.co/372180/bitcoin-tests-59k-as-etfs-shed-692m-options-expiry-looms) in 24 hours, the vast majority — roughly $875 million — being long bets that prices would rise. A liquidation is what happens when an exchange automatically closes a trader's position because their losses have exceeded the collateral, or margin, they put up to open it. Each forced sale adds to the downward pressure, feeding the next.

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds — stock-exchange-listed vehicles that hold actual Bitcoin so investors can get exposure without managing a wallet — recorded their [largest single-day outflow since late May, shedding about $691 million](https://decrypt.co/372180/bitcoin-tests-59k-as-etfs-shed-692m-options-expiry-looms) on Thursday. Net inflows into the funds over the past year have flattened to roughly zero for the first time since the products launched in 2024, a sign that the steady institutional buying that supported prices has stalled.

Adding to the unease was a large expiry of Bitcoin options, contracts that give a buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell at a set price by a set date. According to [CoinDesk data](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/06/26/bitcoin-bounces-from-usd58-000-as-derivatives-signal-more-pain-in-the-pipeline), implied volatility — a gauge of how large a price swing the options market expects — jumped to its highest level since early June, and traders were paying a steep premium for puts, the contracts that pay off when prices fall, relative to calls.

## Strategy loses its premium

The sell-off landed hardest on Strategy, the enterprise-software company turned Bitcoin-accumulation vehicle run by executive chairman Michael Saylor. The firm holds roughly $51 billion in Bitcoin, equal to about 4% of all coins that will ever exist.

Strategy's common shares fell to around $82, and its preferred shares — a class of stock known by the ticker STRC, designed to pay monthly dividends and originally sold at $100 — hit a record low near $71, [trading about 26% below that face value](https://www.theblock.co/post/406438/strategy-loses-bitcoin-premium-enterprise-mnav-dips-below-1). More telling, the company's enterprise mNAV slipped below 1.0 for the first time. The mNAV, or market-to-net-asset-value ratio, compares a company's entire market value to the worth of the Bitcoin on its books after subtracting debt and other obligations. A reading below 1 means investors value the whole enterprise at less than the Bitcoin it holds — the opposite of the premium they had long awarded Saylor's approach.

The worry, as Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan put it to [Fortune](https://fortune.com/2026/06/26/bitcoin-down-20-since-may-strategy-fallout-investors/), is the risk of a forced sale: "People are worried that [STRC's downturn] is going to force Strategy to sell Bitcoin to raise cash, and that's creating a negative psychological environment." The company faces roughly $1.2 billion in annual dividend obligations on its preferred shares while holding about $1.4 billion in cash — a thin cushion if Bitcoin stays depressed.

## Altcoins bear the brunt

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, fell faster than Bitcoin, dropping about 5.6% to near $1,510 and extending a week-long rout. The slide pushed Ether's total market value below $185 billion, allowing [Tether's dollar-pegged stablecoin to overtake it](https://cointelegraph.com/news/tether-stablecoin-flips-ether-by-market-cap-as-eth-routs-to-15k) as the second-largest crypto asset at roughly $186 billion — a symbolic marker of investors fleeing toward assets designed to hold a steady value. XRP slid nearly 5% and Dogecoin fell about 3.8%, while Solana pared an early drop.

Analysts were divided on what comes next. Gabe Selby, head of research at CF Benchmarks, argued the pullback had reached familiar territory: "Bitcoin has pulled back into the $50,000 to $60,000 zone today, and if history is any guide, this is where buyers step in," he told [CoinDesk](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/06/26/ether-xrp-and-dogecoin-lead-a-broad-crypto-selloff-as-tech-stocks-tumble). Others were more cautious, noting that derivatives positioning still pointed to further downside. With near-term direction uncertain, the one firm conclusion is that the easy, one-way buying of recent years has, for now, given way to a tougher market.

## Sources

- [Bitcoin bounces from $58,000 as derivatives signal more pain in the pipeline](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/06/26/bitcoin-bounces-from-usd58-000-as-derivatives-signal-more-pain-in-the-pipeline)
- [Bitcoin sees first close below $60K since Q3 2024](https://cointelegraph.com/markets/bitcoin-sees-first-close-below-60k-since-q3-2024-with-tech-stocks-in-deep-bear-market-zone)
- [Bitcoin Tests $59K as ETFs Shed $692M, Options Expiry Looms](https://decrypt.co/372180/bitcoin-tests-59k-as-etfs-shed-692m-options-expiry-looms)
- [Bitcoin down 20% since May as Strategy fallout spooks investors](https://fortune.com/2026/06/26/bitcoin-down-20-since-may-strategy-fallout-investors/)
- [Strategy loses its bitcoin premium as enterprise mNAV dips below 1](https://www.theblock.co/post/406438/strategy-loses-bitcoin-premium-enterprise-mnav-dips-below-1)
- [Ether, XRP and dogecoin lead a broad crypto selloff as tech stocks tumble](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/06/26/ether-xrp-and-dogecoin-lead-a-broad-crypto-selloff-as-tech-stocks-tumble)
- [Tether stablecoin flips Ether by market cap as ETH routs to $1.5K](https://cointelegraph.com/news/tether-stablecoin-flips-ether-by-market-cap-as-eth-routs-to-15k)