Bitcoin knocked back to $66,000 by institutions, ZEC shines as a standout performer.
- Core Takeaway: The crypto market experienced a massive sell-off on June 2nd, led by Bitcoin, resulting in over $1.7 billion in long-position liquidations. Continuous institutional selling and macroeconomic pressures were the primary drivers. Against this backdrop, Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Zcash (ZEC) demonstrated significant resilience, with ZEC even posting gains.
- Key Factors:
- Bitcoin fell to $66,500, and Ethereum dropped below $1,900, recording a 24-hour decline of 8%. This triggered a cascade of liquidations, with over $1.7 billion in derivatives positions wiped out, including more than $1.5 billion in forced long liquidations.
- Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net outflow of $483.8 million in a single day, with May's total net outflow reaching $2.3 billion—the largest monthly outflow this year. The pace of institutional selling far exceeded the price decline.
- The crypto market's correlation with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 84%, indicating shared macro selling pressure. Automatic stop-loss orders and derivatives liquidations created a chain reaction, accelerating the downturn.
- HYPE hit a new all-time high of $75.51 during the broad market decline, gaining roughly 15% over the past week. With a market cap of approximately $15.9 billion, it surpassed Dogecoin to enter the top ten, drawing attention to the unlocking of 9.92 million tokens on June 6th.
- ZEC bucked the trend, rising over 7% to a session high of $628, briefly ranking 11th by market cap. The core catalyst was the SEC closing its investigation into the project without taking enforcement action.
- ZEC has rebounded over 270% from its February lows. The number of shielded addresses has grown from 1.47 million in 2024 to 5.11 million, reflecting increasing on-chain privacy demand. Analysts suggest that if the $500 support level holds, the next price target is $642.
- The governance vote for the Zcash network upgrade NU7 is expected to commence in June 2026, with the technical roadmap continuing to provide price support.
Original | Odaily 星球日報（@OdailyChina）
Author｜jk
BTC Leads the Decline, Altcoins Suffer Across the Board, $1.7 Billion in Long Positions Liquidated
The crypto market had a bleak start to June. According to OKX market data, Bitcoin fell to $66,500, while Ethereum dropped below the $1,900 mark, down 8% in 24 hours, currently trading at $1,855. SOL is now at $73, with the decline spreading across major coins, altcoins, and crypto-related stocks.
This sell-off triggered the largest wave of leveraged liquidations since February this year. In the past 24 hours, total liquidations in the crypto derivatives market exceeded $1.7 billion, with long positions bearing the brunt. Specifically, liquidations of Bitcoin-related long positions surpassed $1.5 billion.
Liquidation data, Source: Coinglass
This decline is not merely a spot market correction. Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a net outflow of $483.8 million in a single day.
From a macroeconomic perspective, sustained institutional selling is the core driver of this downturn. The correlation between the overall crypto market and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has reached as high as 84%, indicating that both are facing common macroeconomic selling pressure.
Ethereum's breach of the psychological $1,900 support level, hitting an intraday low, further exacerbated market panic. The triggering of automatic stop-loss orders and derivative liquidations created a chain reaction on major exchanges like Bitstamp and Binance, accelerating the downward trend.
Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a net outflow of $2.3 billion in May, the largest monthly outflow since 2026 and the most severe since November 2025. This comes after net inflows of $1.32 billion and $1.97 billion in March and April, respectively. The sudden reversal highlights that institutional selling velocity far exceeds what the price decline alone can explain.
HYPE Retraces After All-Time High, Defying Market Weakness
Against the backdrop of a broad market downturn, Hyperliquid (HYPE) has been an outlier. HYPE reached an all-time high of $75.51 on June 2, before retreating to $68 as of press time, down about 8% from 24 hours prior, but still recording gains of approximately 15% over the past week.
Currently, HYPE has a market cap of approximately $15.9 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $1.54 billion, ranking 10th among all global crypto assets. From a broader perspective, HYPE rose 15% over the past seven days, showing significant relative strength while the global crypto market fell 7.5% overall.
Hyperliquid price chart, Source: Coingecko
The fundamentals supporting HYPE's price are also noteworthy. HYPE surpassed Dogecoin's market cap at the end of May, officially entering the top ten crypto assets by market capitalization. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has publicly predicted that HYPE could surpass Solana in market cap within the year. Additionally, Hyperliquid is set to unlock 9.92 million HYPE tokens (worth approximately $684 million) on June 6, representing 2.54% of the circulating supply. The market is closely monitoring the potential price impact of this unlock.
Defying the Trend: ZEC Emerges as the Strongest Performer
Zcash (ZEC) has been the most notable outlier during this period of market turbulence. ZEC rose over 7% in the past 24 hours, hitting an intraday high of $628, briefly pushing its market cap to the 11th position globally, with a total market cap exceeding $11 billion.
In terms of news catalysts, the core driver of this surge is the confirmation in the ZEC Foundation's Q1 report that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has closed its investigation into the project without taking any enforcement action. For a privacy coin project that has been mired in regulatory uncertainty for years, this news is interpreted by the market as a major compliance利好. However, the news was released weeks ago, and ZEC's resilience in this downturn is largely supported by its strong fundamentals.
From a longer-term perspective, ZEC fell to a low of $185 in February this year before embarking on a rebound, climbing to a high of $688 in May – a gain of over 270%. Its number of shielded addresses has also grown from 1.47 million in 2024 to 5.11 million currently, indicating sustained growth in on-chain privacy demand.
ZEC price performance, Source: Coingecko
From a technical perspective, crypto analyst Ali Martinez noted that a TD Sequential buy signal has been triggered on ZEC's 12-hour chart. If ZEC can hold the $500 support level, the next target is $642. Additionally, governance voting for the Zcash network upgrade NU7 is expected to commence in June 2026, which could continue to provide fundamental support for its price.
