Bitcoin Rollercoaster: Weekend Whiplash as BTC Crashes Through $70K Then Tanks 12%
Markets got a brutal reminder that crypto doesn’t do ’slow Sundays’—Bitcoin ripped past all-time highs before getting sucker-punched by a $8K liquidation cascade. Traders who leveraged long at the top are now explaining margin calls to their spouses.
The 48-hour chart looks like an EKG after a triple espresso. Institutional players shrugged—’volatility is priced in’—while retail bagholders scrambled to offload meme coins to cover losses. Classic.
Meanwhile, Wall Street analysts solemnly nodded: ’This proves Bitcoin’s maturity as an asset class.’ Sure, Jan. Your traditional 12% intraday swings are totally normal for ’mature’ markets.
$103,291 experienced a rapid surge late Sunday night, briefly testing the $106,000 threshold within less than an hour before a heavy wave of selling pushed the price back down to $103,000. The movements were fueled by Leveraged trades that resulted in the liquidation of derivative positions exceeding $600 million. The thinning liquidity over the weekend accelerated these sharp market fluctuations as technical levels were easily breached, causing both short and long positions to be swiftly liquidated. While the market was engulfed in panic, there was an equally strong pursuit of opportunities.
ContentsAutomated Buying Triggers Cascade Reaction as Liquidity DiminishesMarket Pressure Intensifies Following Moody’s Downgrade
Automated Buying Triggers Cascade Reaction as Liquidity Diminishes
The typical low weekend trading volume activated algorithmic orders in milliseconds. This particularly caught off guard investors holding short positions as liquidity pools above $104,000 were emptied. Forced buy cover trades momentarily spiked prices by $2,500. However, profit-taking and stop-loss orders quickly initiated another pullback.
Data from CoinGlass indicates that within a mere hour, $460 million in long positions and $220 million in short positions were liquidated. Major altcoins, including Solana
$162, Dogecoin
$0.217414, and XRP, suffered losses exceeding 4%, and the CoinDesk Broad Market Index fell by over 2%. This extreme movement heightened margin requirements in leveraged trades, casting a cautious tone for upcoming trading sessions.
Market Pressure Intensifies Following Moody’s Downgrade
The search for SAFE havens intensified after Moody’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating, pushing the yield on 30-year Treasury bonds above 5%. Alex Kuptsikevich, an analyst at FxPro, interprets the inability to break through the $106,000 ceiling as short-term technical resistance, asserting that volatility will persist unless a definitive close above this level is achieved.
Co-CEO of HashKey Business Group, Haiyang Ru, highlights institutional demand for Bitcoin driven by the enormous spending bill under discussion in the U.S. According to Ru, debates over the debt ceiling and rising bond yields are expected to maintain price volatility before reaching new peaks. While ETF inflows maintain a supportive stance, inadequate risk management by investors engaging in high-leverage trade is exacerbating liquidations. Analysts point out that the new week, marked by a flurry of political-economic news, could see dramatic price oscillations driven by the dilemma of “what to buy and what to sell.”
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