Bitcoin has dropped into the high $60,000s, and the move has triggered roughly $1.6 billion in liquidations across crypto derivatives over the past 24 hours. Most of that damage came from bullish bets. Long positions made up about $1.46 billion of the total, while shorts accounted for around $160 million, which points to a heavily one-sided washout of leveraged longs rather than a broad and orderly reduction of spot exposure. BTC alone represented roughly $900 million of the liquidations, and ETH contributed around $250 million, meaning the two major assets accounted for more than 70 percent of the market total. CoinGlass data cited in market summaries showed BTC falling to the mid $67,000s before stabilizing near $68,000 to $69,000, while the total crypto market cap fell about 3 percent over the same window.
The scale of the move is large, but it still looks like a classic leverage flush. The concentration in long positions suggests that traders had built up too much bullish exposure above $70,000 and were forced out when price moved against them. That is different from a steady de-risking process in which spot holders reduce positions over time. The liquidation data instead shows a crowded trade being unwound quickly, with the largest pain centered in BTC and ETH.
Analysts link the selloff to a mix of macro pressure and market structure. Hotter US inflation data lifted expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise rates in December, pushed Treasury yields higher and drove the US dollar index to a roughly 19-month high. Those conditions weighed on risk assets, including Bitcoin. At the same time, research from institutional desks points to sustained net outflows from US spot Bitcoin ETFs and a sharp decline in major stablecoin supply. Together, those factors reduce available buying power and make the market more vulnerable to forced selling.
The technical picture also helped accelerate the decline. Once BTC lost the $72,000 to $73,000 region and then the $70,000 psychological level, liquidation heatmaps showed dense long positioning below those levels. As price reached those clusters, forced selling cascaded and added momentum to the drop. That is why the move felt sharper than the broader market cap decline alone might suggest. Leverage had built up in a narrow price area, and the break of key levels turned that leverage into immediate sell pressure.
In the short term, several analysts point to support around $68,000. If selling persists, the next downside areas are seen around $65,000 to $66,000 and then $62,000 to $63,000. Derivatives metrics already show open interest and leverage stepping down, which can reduce near-term squeeze risk but also signals weaker speculative demand until confidence returns. The key indicators to monitor now are net flows into spot BTC ETFs, stablecoin supply trends, funding rates and whether altcoins keep tracking BTC or begin to diverge. A divergence would hint at rotation rather than a broad risk-off move.
The conclusion is that BTC’s plunge and the roughly $1.6 billion liquidation spike are best understood as a leverage washout amplified by macro headwinds and thinning liquidity, not as a single idiosyncratic shock. The next few sessions will matter, especially around support levels and ETF and stablecoin flows. If leverage and ETF outflows continue to decline while BTC holds above key support, this episode may mark a reset. Persistent outflows and fresh liquidation waves would argue for a more cautious stance and raise the risk that this was the start of a larger risk-off phase in crypto.
