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 in ‘extreme fear’ as Arthur Hayes tips ‘sub $50K’ Bitcoin weekend image 0

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.”

Crypto in ‘extreme fear’ as Arthur Hayes tips ‘sub $50K’ Bitcoin weekend image 1

Source: Arthur Hayes

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

Crypto in ‘extreme fear’ as Arthur Hayes tips ‘sub $50K’ Bitcoin weekend image 2

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.

Crypto in ‘extreme fear’ as Arthur Hayes tips ‘sub $50K’ Bitcoin weekend image 3

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.

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