Crypto in ‘extreme fear’ as Arthur Hayes tips ‘sub $50K’ Bitcoin weekend

Bitcoin’s price drop saw crypto market sentiment hit “extreme fear,” and BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes thinks BTC could go lower over the weekend.
Bitcoin’s price drop saw crypto market sentiment hit “extreme fear,” and BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes thinks BTC could go lower over the weekend.

Crypto market sentiment has fallen back into “extreme fear” as Bitcoin briefly fell below $56,000, while BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes predicts it could sink at another 12% to fall under $50,000 over the weekend.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index — which measures market sentiment and trends to give a total possible score of 100 — hit a score of 22 on Sept. 6, showing “extreme fear,” a seven-point drop from the day prior that pinned sentiment at “fear.” 

It’s the lowest score and price since the index hit 20 on Aug. 8 and the first time it has re-entered the “extreme fear” zone since Aug. 12, when the index hit 25.

Crypto market sentiment has seen large swings between fearful and greedy since June. Source: alternative.me

Bitcoin (BTC) is down 2.7% in the past 24 hours and a low of $55,838 after a fall from above $58,000, wiping $29.7 billion from its market capitalization, according to Cointelegraph Markets Pro.

It has since slightly recovered from its low to trade at $56,533.

“BTC is heavy,” Hayes, the former boss of crypto exchange BitMEX, said in a Sept. 6 X post. “I’m gunning for sub $50k this weekend. I took a cheeky short.”

Source: Arthur Hayes

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has been struggling to gain momentum amid worries of a sluggish United States economy.

Bitcoin has fallen over the past day to trade just above $56,000. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

US jobs data released on Sept. 5 fell short of economist expectations and has raised further concern about an expected Federal Reserve interest rate cut.

Related: Bitcoin transactions dive 30% in 6 months amid BTC price ‘disinterest’

Bitcoin’s 24-hour price dive dragged down the price of other major cryptocurrencies on the day, with Ether (ETH) falling 2.23%, Solana (SOL) dropping 2.82%, and XRP (XRP) seeing a 2.19% slump.

The across-the-board price dives led to $94.26 million in liquidations in the last day, led by those betting Bitcoin’s price would rise, CoinGlass data shows.

Bitcoin and Ether long bets accounted for over half of the liquidations in the past day. Source: CoinGlass

Just over $71 million worth of long bets in total were liquidated, including $36.71 million Bitcoin longs — accounting for nearly 40% of the day’s liquidations — followed by $17.36 million in liquidated ETH long bets.

Magazine: How to protect your crypto in a volatile market — Bitcoin OGs and experts weigh in