Bitcoin plunged to $77,000, and the leveraged traders who bet it wouldn’t did not have a good time. Over $526 million in crypto positions were liquidated in just one hour, with the vast majority coming from long positions.
What happened
Bitcoin had been testing the $79K to $80K resistance zone and failing to punch through. When that rejection turned into a slide below $77K, it set off a cascade of forced liquidations across major exchanges.
Liquidation, for the uninitiated, is what happens when a leveraged trader’s position moves against them far enough that the exchange closes it automatically to prevent further losses.
The $526 million figure represents the damage done in a single hour. But the broader weekend volatility event was even uglier, with some reports pegging total long liquidations north of $800 million. Across major exchanges, more than $300 million in liquidations were recorded as Bitcoin slipped below the $77K mark.
The setup that made this painful
Bitcoin had enjoyed nine consecutive days of ETF inflows leading up to this pullback, totaling approximately $2.12 billion. That kind of sustained institutional buying tends to embolden leveraged traders, who pile into long positions expecting the momentum to continue.
The near-term support zone now sits in the $75K to $77K range.
The leverage problem that never goes away
Spot Bitcoin ETFs have brought in a new class of investors who don’t use leverage and aren’t subject to liquidation. That $2.12 billion in ETF inflows represents real buying, not leveraged speculation.
The $75K to $77K zone is what bulls need to defend. The $79K to $80K range is what they need to reclaim.
The ETF flow data in the coming days will matter more than usual. Nine straight days of inflows created the conditions for this rally.