Bitcoin (BTC) price falls below $63,00 as AI fatigue, Middle East tensions drag crypto, tech stocks lower

Crypto approached the weekend broadly lower as AI stock fatigue and U.S.-Iran tensions weighed on sentiment, though an RSI near 42 hints at oversold conditions heading into the weekend.

Bitcoin (BTC) price falls below $63,00 as AI fatigue, Middle East tensions drag crypto, tech stocks lower

Markets

Risk-off wave drags bitcoin below $63,000 as AI selloff spreads from stocks to crypto

Crypto fell as AI stock fatigue and U.S.-Iran tensions weighed on sentiment, though a technical measure hints at oversold conditions heading into the weekend.

By

Oliver Knight

,

Omkar Godbole

|

Edited by

Sheldon Reback

Jul 17, 2026, 10:26 a.m.

3

min read

Make

preferred on

Share

Share this article

Copy link

X icon

X (Twitter)

LinkedIn

Facebook

Email

Make

preferred on

Bitcoin price (CoinDesk data)

Summary

Show

Bitcoin fell 1.2% and ether 1.74% as a selloff in semiconductor stocks from Asia to North America and renewed Middle East tensions drove a broad risk-off move, lifting gold back above $4,000.

Privacy coins were among the few bright spots, with ZEC and DASH both advancing. AI tokens FET and TAO rose despite the sector struggling to sustain momentum since mid-June.

The average relative strength index (RSI) across crypto pairs dipped to 42.23, approaching the oversold territory that triggered July's relief bounce and offering bulls a potential foothold heading into the weekend.

The crypto market fell Friday, with bitcoin

BTC

$

63,072.55

recovering from a drop below $63,000 to trade down 1.2% since midnight UTC and ether (ETH) losing 1.74%. Total crypto market capitalization shed 1.86% to sit at $2.16 trillion.

The selloff is not isolated to crypto. Nasdaq 100 index futures dropped 1.91% and S&P 500 futures slipped 0.96%, pointing to macro forces driving the move rather than anything crypto-specific. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 4%, while South Korea’s Kospi stock exchange was closed for Constitution Day.

In a a classic risk-off rotation, the Dollar Index (DXY) rose to 100.75 while gold advanced 0.61% to climb back above $4,000.

The move to the downside can be attributed to a selloff in tech stocks across North America and Asia, as well as mounting tensions in the Middle East.

"The market is ending the week with two bruises: AI fatigue and Hormuz heat,”

said Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group.

“The semiconductor selloff has gone from profit-taking to position-clearing, dragging Asia toward its worst levels in months.”

One cause for optimism heading into the weekend is that the average relative strength index (RSI) across crypto pairs. The reading has dipped to 42.23, approaching the oversold conditions that triggered July's relief bounce.

Derivatives positioning

The long-short ratio in crypto futures markets, as measured by taker buy-sell volume, has slipped to 0.94, the lowest since June 2.

A "taker" is the entity executing a trade at the current market price, and the ratio indicates which side of the transaction is being more aggressive with market orders. The latest reading suggests that bears are currently in control, validating the price declines seen over the past 24 hours.

That said, overall volume has cooled by 4% in 24 hours to $163 billion, while open interest (OI) remains largely steady at around $111 billion. This suggests that while buy-sell volume is skewed bearish, overall market activity has declined during the price drop.

BTC's total OI has pulled back to 747K BTC from yesterday’s high of 755K BTC. A similar trend is evident in ETH, XRP, and SOL futures, where OI has held steady or declined slightly.

These changes indicate that major token futures are not yet showing signs of aggressive new shorts entering the market or panic unwinding due to margin calls. For now, it remains an orderly price drop.

HYPE stood out with an OI increase of nearly 2% alongside a sharp 8% drop in the spot price. This combination typically confirms price weakness, signaling that new short positions are being opened. Furthermore, the 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) for HYPE is the most negative among major tokens, matching memecoin DOGE. A negative CVD implies that sellers are being aggressive, shorting at market prices rather than using passive limit orders.

The broader market picture appears equally bearish, as most coins, including BTC and ETH, display a negative 24-hour CVD.

However, bitcoin and ether's 30-day implied volatility indexes remain near recent lows, signaling continued market stability. Put simply, while spot prices have dropped, the selloff has yet to trigger panic buying of options or a rush for hedging contracts.

In ether’s case, a trader or a group of traders recently purchased large-scale straddles, betting on significant price swings by July 24.

Regarding volumes, three of the top five most-traded ETH contracts are currently puts. A put option offers protection against price declines in the underlying asset. Yet, at the same time, the $2,100 call remains the single most-traded bet of the past 24 hours. For bitcoin, the $62,500 put has emerged as the clear favorite among traders.

Token talk

Lighter (LIT) led the losses on Thursday, falling 3.55% to $2.195 as profit-taking weighed on a token that surged more than 200% between May and early July.

Privacy coins bucked the trend with zcash (ZEC) advancing 1.56% to $531 and dash (DASH) gaining 0.78%, both maintaining the relative strength they have shown in recent weeks.

AI tokens FET and TAO posted gains of about 0.20%, a sign of resilience from a sector that has struggled to sustain momentum since mid-June.

CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season indicator snapped back to 53/100 on Friday, highlighting bitcoin’s relative weakness against several altcoin trading pairs.

Crypto Markets Today

Related Assets

Bitcoin

$

63,072.55

1.79

%

Latest Crypto News

1

Live markets: Bitcoin slips to $63,000 as the chip rout goes global

28 minutes ago

2

Airbnb CEO says X account was hacked, attacker posted AI-slop on tokenization

2 hours ago

3

Ether falls twice as hard as bitcoin and HYPE drops 10% as the chip trade unwinds

3 hours ago

4

This $28 million ether market bet aims to profit from pure market chaos

3 hours ago

5

DOG Mode vs. BIP-110: Inside the Bitcoin client built to bypass data restrictions

5 hours ago

6

Bitcoin under $63,000 after new U.S. strike on Iran. Trump's China comment adds to uncertainty

7 hours ago

7

$1.9 trillion asset manager T. Rowe Price bets on active management with first multi-token crypto ETF

16 hours ago

8

Citadel Securities invests $400 million in Crypto.com, valuing exchange at $20 billion

17 hours ago

9

Stripe’s $53 billion PayPal bid is a high-stakes play to own the future of digital payments

18 hours ago

10

Visa backs Open USD with new stablecoin platform as Circle faces fresh competition

18 hours ago

Latest Research

Gate Leads Spot Market Share Gains as CEX Volumes Rise for First Time in Five Months

Gate Leads Spot Market Share Gains as CEX Volumes Rise for First Time in Five Months

CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.

By

CoinDesk Research

Jul 13, 2026

CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.

Why it matters

:

CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.

View Full Report

More From

Markets

Live markets: Bitcoin slips to $63,000 as the chip rout goes global

Ether falls twice as hard as bitcoin and HYPE drops 10% as the chip trade unwinds

This $28 million ether market bet aims to profit from pure market chaos

More From

Bitcoin

Live markets: Bitcoin slips to $63,000 as the chip rout goes global

Airbnb CEO says X account was hacked, attacker posted AI-slop on tokenization

Ether falls twice as hard as bitcoin and HYPE drops 10% as the chip trade unwinds

Crypto

CD20

$1,722.48

CD20 down 1.99 percent

1.99%

BTC

$63,064.70

BTC down 1.80 percent

1.80%

ETH

$1,834.41

ETH down 2.64 percent

2.64%

XRP

$1.08

XRP down 2.09 percent

2.09%

SOL

$74.68

SOL down 2.01 percent

2.01%