Bitcoin Slips Below $60,000, Heading for Uncommon Back-to-Back Quarterly Declines

Bitcoin fell under the $60,000 mark over the weekend, changing hands around $59,940 on Sunday. The token was down 0.6% over the past 24 hours and nearly 7% for the week, according to CoinDesk, as a selloff-heavy quarter neared its close. Losses were steeper across most altcoins. Ether slid 9.5% on the week to about $1,567. Dogecoin dropped 11.7% to $0.073. Hyperliquid's HYPE fell 10.6%, and XRP declined 8.7% to $1.04. Solana proved relatively resilient at $70, down 3.5%, while tron held up best, off 1.5%. Bitcoin's relative stability helped anchor the market through the week as higher-risk tokens sold off more sharply. With two days left in the half, the weekend closes out a weak first six months. Bitcoin is on pace to end the second quarter down about 12%, following an roughly 22% decline in the first quarter, Coinglass data show. Ether has underperformed, down about 25% in Q2 after a 29% drop in Q1. Starting a year with two consecutive losing quarters is rare for bitcoin, occurring only twice in its history. The second quarter has historically been one of bitcoin's stronger periods on average over the past decade, making back-to-back red quarters an unusual break from the pattern. The pressures echo themes that have shaped the month. Investor attention has centered on semiconductor and memory-chip stocks amid the ongoing AI boom. At the same time, outflows from U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, a hawkish Federal Reserve under new Chair Kevin Warsh, and a U.S. dollar near a seven-month high have weighed on crypto. A tech-stock selloff earlier in the week added to the strain. As the third quarter begins, traders will be watching for signs that ETF outflows and soft demand ease, or whether the weakness that defined the first half persists.