Bitcoin extended its decline on Friday, closing out its weakest week since March as broader crypto markets continued to unravel. BTC hovered near session lows below $95,000 late in U.S. trading, showing little sign of recovery after sliding nearly 9% over the past five days — its steepest weekly drop in eight months.

While major U.S. equity indices managed to hold modest gains into the close, bitcoin once again underperformed traditional markets.

Ethereum and Solana saw even deeper losses. Ether fell more than 11% this week, dropping under the $3,200 mark, while Solana slid 15% since Monday. XRP, however, held up comparatively well, easing just 1%. Its relative resilience may have been supported by the launch of the first U.S. spot XRP ETF from Canary Capital.

Crypto-Linked Stocks Face Mixed Session

Crypto equities continued to feel the pressure from Thursday’s steep selloff.
– MicroStrategy (MSTR), the largest public holder of bitcoin, sank another 4%, breaking below $200 for the first time since October 2024.
– Bullish (BLSH), BitMine (BMNR), and miners including CleanSpark (CLSK), MARA Holdings (MARA), and Hive Digital (HIVE) fell between 4% and 7%.

A handful of names bucked the downtrend. Hut 8 climbed 6% after earnings from American Bitcoin, its joint venture with the Trump family. Robinhood (HOOD) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) each gained roughly 3%.

‘Information Vacuum’ Hits Markets

Analysts at Bitfinex said the downturn stems largely from a lack of key economic data during the U.S. government shutdown, which halted major inflation and labor reports from October 1 until Thursday.

“The retracement is the result of an information vacuum and political uncertainty,” the firm wrote in a note. Without critical data, markets and the Federal Reserve are effectively navigating blind.

Confidence remains shaky as lawmakers’ funding deal only keeps the government open until January 30, meaning the uncertainty has merely been delayed. “The temporary bill doesn’t resolve the issue — it just pushes it further down the road,” Bitfinex added.

Noelle Acheson, author of Crypto Is Macro Now, said the recent pullback was a necessary reset after months of sideways trading that failed to produce a sustained breakout above $120,000. “We need to get through this flush before we can breathe more easily,” she wrote, adding that bitcoin’s long-term outlook remains intact once markets stabilize.

Acheson emphasized macro liquidity as the dominant driver for BTC. While rate cuts may not arrive until late Q1 2026, balance sheet adjustments or other easing measures could still inject optimism back into risk assets.

Analyst: BTC May Target $84,000

John Glover, CIO at crypto lender Ledn, warned that technical signals point to further downside. Bitcoin’s drop below the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level — just under $100,000 — opens the door to the next major support near $84,000, he said.

Until liquidity improves and macro conditions stabilize, analysts caution that BTC remains vulnerable to deeper retracements