Bitcoin's 4.5% slide to a six-week low triggered $935 million in liquidations, with longs bearing the brunt of the sell-off.
Back
Bitcoin sinks to $72.6K as $935M in leveraged longs get wiped out
Bitcoin fell 4.5% to $72,620 during Asian trading Thursday, a six-week low, as US-Iran hostilities and persistent ETF outflows triggered forced selling.
"Renewed US-Iran fighting overnight sent us lower with mass liquidations," Nicrypto, an independent analyst, said in an X post Thursday.
More than $874 million in long positions were wiped out across centralized exchanges in the 24 hours to 01:00 UTC, with Bitcoin accounting for $348.5 million of that total, according to Coinglass data. Ether followed with $228.5 million in long liquidations. The single largest liquidation was a $15.34 million BTC-USD long position on Hyperliquid.
Bitcoin has now lost the $75,000 support zone that held for most of May, and traders are watching $70,000 as the last line of defense. A daily close below that level could open the door to a deeper correction toward $65,000, according to technical analysis.
ETF Outflows Accelerate as Institutional Interest Wanes
US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded their eighth consecutive day of outflows Wednesday, with $733 million exiting — the largest single-day withdrawal since Jan. 29, according to SoSoValue data. The eight-day outflow streak has now reached $2.6 billion, pushing the year-to-date flow picture closer to net negative. Global Bitcoin investment products posted $1.3 billion in outflows last week, CoinShares data shows.
The decline in futures open interest reinforces the bearish picture. Bitcoin's aggregate OI across all exchanges fell over the past 24 hours, with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and BingX posting declines of 9.8% and 9%, respectively, according to Coinglass. Lower OI signals reduced leverage and market participation, a pattern that preceded a 38% price drop between Jan. 14 and Feb. 6.
$70,000 Becomes the Last Line of Defense
MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe described the sell-off as a "standard approach" typical of month-end rebalancing by asset managers, but warned that a break below the $71,400-$73,400 support zone would open the door to the lower $60,000s. The 100-day simple moving average at $73,000 has already been breached, and the next demand zone sits above $70,000.
A daily candlestick close below $70,000 could trigger a sell-off toward the $65,000 target of an inverted V-shaped pattern, representing an additional 11.4% decline from current levels, according to TradingView chart analysis.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
