Bitcoin traders are closing long positions as the market loses $636 million in a single day.
After a sharp drop to $61,000, Bitcoin briefly rebounded to $64,600 before stabilizing just below $64,000. Despite paring losses, it remains down 3.2% for the day, 14% for the week, and nearly 30% since the start of 2026.
Key Takeaways
Bitcoin fell to $61,310 and then hovered near $64,000 amid a severe downturn in the cryptocurrency market.
The massive market selloff resulted in the liquidation of $1.73 billion in leveraged positions across all platforms.
Bitget Wallet warns that continued outflows could force Bitcoin to retest the $55,000 to $57,000 level in the future. Volatility grips Bitcoin after sudden collapse
After falling to $61,310 late Wednesday, Bitcoin quickly recovered its losses, hovering around $64,600 by midnight. However, the cryptocurrency failed to maintain its momentum, gradually declining until stabilizing just above $62,200. A similar pattern repeated itself: Bitcoin rose above $64,000 but then stalled, failing to test the $64,500 resistance level at 10:14 AM EST.
At the time of writing, at 1:30 PM EST, Bitcoin had fallen below $64,000 and appears poised to fall below $63,000. Although Bitcoin's recovery ultimately pared its losses, the daily chart shows it still lost 3.2% in 24 hours and 14% over seven days. After a sudden morning plunge to $61,000, Bitcoin's market cap briefly fell to around $1.23 trillion before recovering to $1.27 trillion.
Since May 29, when its market cap was around $1.48 trillion, Bitcoin has lost over $200 billion, making it one of the worst periods of 2026 so far. According to Coingecko, Bitcoin has fallen nearly 30% year-to-date.
For the third consecutive day, a selloff in the crypto market has resulted in the liquidation of over $1 billion in leveraged positions. Bitcoin liquidations alone exceeded $803 million, with long positions accounting for $636 million of the total. Overall, the cryptocurrency market saw long positions liquidated at $1.43 billion and short positions liquidated at nearly $307 million, bringing the total value of leveraged liquidations to $1.73 billion.
Analysts discuss institutional obstacles and macroeconomic stress
While the Bitcoin price decline was initially attributed to political tensions in the Middle East and the sale of 32 bitcoins by MicroStrategy, opinions on the causes of the collapse differ. MicroStrategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, who initially did not directly respond to critics condemning the sale of $BTC, has now weighed in, attributing the net outflow of funds from spot exchange-traded funds to capital rotation, not devaluation.
Joining the discussion, Grayscale Research noted that while Strategy's sale disclosure had a significant impact on investor sentiment, the actual volume of assets sold was fundamentally insignificant compared to the company's overall balance sheet. Grayscale believes the market's aggressive reaction highlights a shift to a compressed volatility regime, where sharp, narrative-driven moves are often driven by institutional news rather than structural changes.
Meanwhile, Lasi Zhang, an analyst at Bitget Wallet, stated that recent data suggests that the cryptocurrency may be pricing in macroeconomic stress more quickly than simply reflecting it. Zhang said:
"$BTC tested $60,000, overcame a wave of $1.8 billion in liquidations, including over $1.5 billion in long positions, and has already rebounded to $63,000." Funding rates have become deeply negative, open interest has plummeted, and the fear and greed index is at 12. This is a market that has done significant technical work in a short period of time."
The analyst noted that while a retest of $55,000 to $57,000 remains possible if outflows persist, "cryptocurrency may already be closer to overcoming this episode than equity markets."
Nikolai Sondergaard, an analyst at Nansen, stated that market participants are using the pullback from $61,000 to reduce positions rather than add to them.
Taken from the source: https://cryptonews.net/ru/news/bitcoin/32967939/