Bitcoin Drops Below $70,000 for First Time Since April as Strategy Sells $2.5M BTC

Bitcoin (BTC) fell as much as 2.4% to $69,660 in early European trading on Monday — its lowest level since April 8 and the first time below $70,000 in nearly two months.

The price dropped after Strategy Inc., the biggest company in the world that owns Bitcoin, said it had sold about $2.5 million worth of BTC. This was the company's first drop in price since 2022 and a change from its long-standing "buy-only" policy. A lot of cryptocurrencies went down in value, including Ethereum, Solana, and other coins.

As of today, buyers have taken nearly $3.5 billion out of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, making it 11 days in a row that the funds have been net flow negative. The exit of ETFs, which boosted Bitcoin's price when it first came out more than two years ago, is now working against it.

What Moved the Market: Strategy's Sale and the DAT Concerns

The catalyst arrived via SEC filing. Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) announced it had sold 32 bitcoins in the last week of May to raise about $2.5 million to pay dividends to stockholders. The average sale price was around $77,135 per bitcoin. Strategy's stock price fell 5.85% on Monday after the disclosure.

This is only the second time the company has sold a portion of its Bitcoin holdings. The last such sale took place in December 2022. Even after the sale, Strategy continues to hold 843,706 bitcoins — bought at an average purchase price of $75,699 — making it the largest institutional holder of the cryptocurrency.

Caroline Mauron, co-founder of Orbit Markets, said: "Geopolitical uncertainty, coupled with concerns about the strategic prospects of Strategy's Digital Asset Treasury (DAT), is putting pressure on Bitcoin."

The US-Iran war remains the geopolitical backdrop. The conflict has disrupted global oil flows and kept risk assets on edge. Bitcoin's correlation with broader risk appetite means the macro headwind is still present.

The Saylor Factor: $4.5B Net Worth Takes a $183M Hit

Michael Saylor, Strategy founder and CEO, has a net worth of $4.5 billion, according to Forbes' Real Time Billionaires list — making him the 943rd richest person in the world. Monday's selloff of Strategy's stock cut Saylor's fortune by $183 million.

The sale is symbolic. 32 bitcoins is a minuscule fraction of Strategy's 843,706 BTC hoard. But the signal matters. The "buy-only" narrative that Saylor has championed for years — and that attracted institutional followers — now has a crack. If the largest corporate holder is selling, even for dividends, the floor thesis weakens.

$69,660 is the level that broke. A sustained hold below $70,000 risks accelerating selling as the psychological barrier flips from support to resistance. The next technical support sits around $67,000, with $65,000 — the bottom of the February range — as the critical floor.

$3.5 billion is the ETF outflow number that shows institutional patience is thinning. The 11 consecutive days of withdrawals is the longest streak since the spot ETF launch. If the exodus continues, the passive bid that has underpinned Bitcoin's price discovery disappears.

$75,699 is Strategy's average purchase price. Bitcoin trading below that level means the largest institutional holder is underwater on its position. That doesn't force selling — Strategy has held through deeper drawdowns — but it removes the "Saylor put" narrative that has comforted bulls.

The US-Iran war is the trade's clock. Watch whether the conflict escalates to spike oil above $100 again, or whether diplomatic progress allows risk assets to stabilize. The Strategy sale is the institutional signal to watch. One sale doesn't make a trend. Two does.