Bitcoin Slides to $62,000 Range Ahead of Stocks as Liquidity Drains

Liquidity Drains on Rate-Hike Signals

$4.36 Billion Exits Spot ETFs in Two Weeks

Bitcoin has fallen for days as investors pull liquidity from cryptocurrencies amid worsening macroeconomic data and a wave of large upcoming initial public offerings.

According to Upbit, Bitcoin was trading at about 93 million won, or roughly $67,000, on Thursday afternoon. The token climbed to around 120 million won, about $86,000, in mid-May, but fell below 100 million won, or about $72,000, on June 1. It dropped to 95.5 million won, roughly $68,700, on June 4. In overseas markets, Bitcoin traded in the $62,000 range on Thursday.

Persistent high interest rates are seen draining liquidity. U.S. consumer prices rose 3.8% in April from a year earlier, the fastest pace in three years. Expectations for large IPOs are also weighing on cryptocurrencies. SpaceX, Elon Musk's space company, is aiming to raise as much as $86 billion ahead of a planned Nasdaq listing on June 12. Artificial intelligence companies OpenAI and Anthropic are also preparing IPOs.

Outflows from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have added to the pressure. Farside Investors data show that 12 spot Bitcoin ETFs listed in the U.S. posted net outflows for 13 straight trading sessions from May 15 through June 4. Cumulative net outflows totaled $4.3618 billion during that period.

Bitcoin is often described as a canary in the coal mine for broader macro trends, adding to concern about a possible decline in stocks. Crypto trades around the clock and tends to react quickly to shifts in market conditions, Kim Min-seung, head of research at Korbit, said. That often causes crypto prices to move before stocks do, he added.

Park Si-on, Hankyung.com reporter ushire908@hankyung.com