Bitcoin Posts 12% Weekly Loss as Crypto Liquidations Top $700 Million

Crypto liquidations have hit $712 million in the past 24 hours, sending the price of Bitcoin and most other major tokens into the red for a third consecutive day.

CoinGlass data reveals that just over $535 million in long positions and $176 million in shorts have been wound up in the past day, with Bitcoin alone witnessing $304 million in liquidations.

The total figure of $712 million represents an 85%% increase in the past 24 hours, with the dramatic uptick in liquidations resulting in a 4% decline in total open interest, to $87 billion.

The cascade in liquidations means that Bitcoin is now down by 4% in the past 24 hours and by 11% in a week, with the cryptocurrency market as a whole suffering a 5.5% decline today.

And for some analysts, the Bitcoin price descending to $80,000 today runs the risk of further liquidations in the coming days and potentially weeks.

“Looking at the current liquidation heat maps, I think if the price were to drop to $80,000 or so on even weaker sentiment, this could trigger more liquidations of long positions, and in turn cause the price to fall further,” says eToro analyst Simon Peters, speaking to Decrypt.

Peters also notes that, in the past, we have seen “retracements of 20-35%” in bull markets before a bottom is found and a recovery is set in mention.

“$80,000 is a 28% drawdown or retracement from the $109,300 all-time high,” he explains. “If the price were to fall further due to the reasons mentioned above, a 35% drawdown from the all-time high would put the price at $70,000 before any base is potentially formed.”

However, Peters also suggests that a recovery to the $84,000-$85,000 region could end up triggering a liquidation of shorts, thereby helping to accelerate a rebound.

For some industry figures, one of the reasons why liquidations have been so severe today is that they’ve been driven by retail more than institutions.

“Many of the recent liquidations likely stem from inexperienced traders who entered the market during the “extreme greed” phase in December 2024, driven by the so-called ‘Trump-pump,’” says Unity Wallet COO James Toledano, speaking to Decrypt.

The declines that set off today’s liquidations likely followed from several fundamental reasons, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s refusal to rule out a recession amid a growing trade war with other economies.

Investors have also been spooked by analysis which shows that the North Korean Bybit hackers have been able to successfully cash out $300 million of their $1.5 billion haul, with the converted funds unlikely to ever be traced or recovered.

“Expectations were simply too high, and the market is now paying the price,” says Toledano. “One of the biggest letdowns has been the U.S. Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, which turned out to be nothing more than a repackaging of seized FBI assets—around 200,000 BTC ($16.5 billion), just 1% of Bitcoin’s market cap ($1.65T as of today)—placed under the control of the Federal Reserve.”

The poor sentiment is reflected in one particular prediction market on Myriad Markets, which shows that 100% of participants believe that the Fear and Greed Index will not rise to 25% or above today. (Disclosure: Myriad is a prediction market and engagement platform developed by Dastan, parent company of an editorially independent Decrypt.)

Yet for some observers, the crypto market isn’t sensitive to macroeconomics so much as it’s correlated to US markets, in particular tech stocks.

“The biggest factor pushing prices down isn’t the Bybit hack or the disappointing Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, it’s the steep fall in the Nasdaq stock market index, particularly the ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks—Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla,” says Glen Goodman, a cryptocurrency analyst and author of The Crypto Trader.

Goodman tells Decrypt that Bitcoin’s price has generally shown a “very strong correlation” with tech sticks, and that whenever tech struggles “investors flee” from crypto.

This view is supported by the fact that, according to Toledano, “Bitcoin ETFs have seen outflows for a fourth consecutive week, totaling $4.5 billion,” a sign that many of the institutions which have probably been invested in tech stocks have also been selling their crypto holdings.

Toledano suggests that if sentiment remains fragile, leveraged positions will continue to be at risk, although a flushing out of over-leveraged traders could help prepare the ground for a rebound.

“The key indicators to watch are derivatives positioning, spot demand, and institutional flows,” he says. “If risk appetite recovers, BTC could stabilize or even rally, but if fear continues to dominate, further downside is likely.”

Edited by Stacy Elliott.