Bitcoin Reclaims $63,000 in Oversold Relief Rally After Dipping Below $60K as KOSPI Plunges 8%

Bitcoin reclaimed $63,000 in an oversold relief rally after dipping below $60K Friday, triggering $504 million in short liquidations as South Korea’s KOSPI plunged 8% on a brutal semiconductor selloff.

Bitcoin reclaimed $63,000 Monday morning in what analysts called a classic oversold relief rally, after slipping below $60,000 Friday on the back of strong U.S. jobs data, fading Fed rate cut expectations, and continuing pressure from the Zcash crash and Strategy’s first BTC sale since 2022. The rebound has restored about half of last week’s losses but left BTC still down roughly 15% week-on-week.

The bounce was sharp enough to flip directional positioning. 

About $504 million in short positions were liquidated over the 24 hours leading to Monday morning, the largest single-day short squeeze since late April, per CoinGlass data. Total crypto liquidations reached approximately $655 million. Bets on rising prices accounted for just $151 million of liquidations by comparison, indicating traders had been positioned for further downside.

The macro backdrop hardened rather than softened. 

This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.

South Korea’s KOSPI plunged more than 8% on Monday’s open, its sharpest single-session drop in years, and triggered a circuit breaker to halt trading. Samsung fell 7.3% and SK Hynix lost 4% in a brutal semiconductor selloff. Renewed Iran-Israel strikes over the weekend sent oil up more than 3%, and President Trump publicly urged Israel not to retaliate further.

Analysts emphasized the bounce reflects technical exhaustion rather than a regime change. “Bitcoin’s roughly 5% rebound this morning may be partly due to the market becoming oversold after last week’s sharp selloff,” Min Jung, associate researcher at Presto Research, told The Block. 

CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost said cumulative realized losses since bitcoin’s October peak have reached roughly $174 billion, still below the $211 billion from the previous bear market. Benjamin Cowen argued BTC has entered the third stage of a bear market after breaking below its February low.

Volatility is set to stay elevated this week with key catalysts such as U.S. CPI data, a wave of major IPOs including SpaceX’s planned for the second week of June, and Strategy’s widely-watched Monday 8-K disclosure window, especially after Michael Saylor hinted at a fresh BTC buy Sunday.