Bitcoin steadies after $60,000 breach as Strategy Inc's Saylor hints at buying

Bitcoin steadied in early Asia trading on Monday after dropping below $60,000 late last week as Strategy Inc. Chairman Michael Saylor hinted at further purchases.

The original cryptocurrency climbed as much as 3.8% to nearly $64,200 and was trading around $63,000 at 10:15 a.m. in Singapore. Ether, the second-largest token, was more than 3% firmer at around $1,680.

A signal from Saylor that Strategy may announce more Bitcoin buying has helped to soothe market nerves. It was the digital-asset treasury’s disclosure of a small Bitcoin sale, its first since 2022, that contributed to the token’s 18% decline last week as it undermined the narrative it would never sell.

Richard Galvin, executive chairman at crypto investment firm DACM, said the market had looked oversold and Saylor’s post on X this morning “suggests he has been buying.”

“The key short-term determinant of crypto market direction will likely be Strategy’s 8-K filing in the US morning, which will make it clearer what the company has done over the last few days,” he said, referring to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

‘Incredibly Shaky’

Still, traders didn’t appear convinced that the turnaround was durable. “We reduced our portfolio across the board and increased our cash levels to the highest they have been in two years,” Galvin said.

Bitcoin slumped as much as 7% to $59,101 on Friday in New York trading hours, falling below $60,000 for the first time since Donald Trump won reelection in 2024. It has lost about half its value since reaching a peak above $126,000 in October last year.

Last week’s drop was fuelled by a combination of investors pulling money from Bitcoin-tied exchange-traded funds, renewed geopolitical tensions and growing concerns about the durability of Strategy and other digital-asset treasuries, one of the market’s most important sources of demand.

Bitcoin briefly trimmed gains Monday on news of Israel’s retaliatory attack on Iran as the war continued to plague the economic outlook.

“Sentiment is incredibly shaky,” said Pratik Kala, a portfolio manager at Apollo Crypto, a digital-asset hedge fund, adding much will depend on what Strategy does next.

“We bought a lot of downside protection via puts,” he said. “There is always a mean reversion trade after a big dump. Some algos and traders step in whilst others may be optimistic that Saylor and Strategy have a bigger plan.”

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