Bitcoin Price Plunges Below $69,000 Amid Fears of Global Market Turbulence

Market Update: Cryptocurrency Prices Decline Amid Global Tensions

Bitcoin prices have declined anew, falling as much as 3.3% on Sunday to trade around $68,150, the lowest level since early March. The largest coin has sold off since the start of the war, losing roughly 20% since the US and Israel started their attacks on Iran at the end of February.

Ether lost nearly 5% at one point to sink to $2,050, while Solana, XRP, and Cardano also dropped. The decline has exposed the limits of an argument that's long been made in crypto circles about the coin's ability to act as a safe haven amid times of crisis.

According to Peter Tchir, head of macro strategy at Academy Securities, other factors are also at play, including a broader selloff that's also dragged down stocks and other risky assets. Higher energy prices may also be weighing on the industry given that it makes mining the token more expensive.

Read also: Bitcoin Price Sinks 6% Below $66,500 Amid ETF Outflows and Institutional Selling

Energy Prices and Cryptocurrency Mining

Perpetual futures on Hyperliquid, a crypto exchange that has become one of the largest venues for around-the-clock derivatives trading, showed oil-linked contracts trading higher by more than 4% to over $99 a barrel, as of around 4 p.m. in New York. Those on the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 were lower by more than 1% each.

Global Tensions and Cryptocurrency Prices

The recent crypto rout comes on top of a broader decline that started in early October, when Bitcoin was trading above $120,000. The initial plummeting has dented sentiment enough to stop any nascent rallies from gaining enough steam to bring the coin out of that rut.

Read also: Bitcoin's Inflation-Hedging Potential Erodes as Price Falls Below $70,000