Cryptocurrencies cascading down: Bitcoin retreats and triggers mass liquidations

The cryptocurrency market is experiencing an accelerated downward movement in recent hours. With Bitcoin trading at $67.49K, negative repercussions are spreading throughout the digital ecosystem. The widespread decline reveals a deeper scenario: this is not an isolated event but a continuation of a deleveraging process that has been ongoing for weeks.

Widespread Drop and Accelerated Liquidations

Current market figures show the extent of the movement. Ethereum drops 2.97% in 24 hours, while Solana experiences an even larger retracement of 3.88%. BNB declines 1.17%, XRP falls 2.34%, and Bitcoin loses 1.88% in the same period. Cryptocurrencies falling simultaneously across various magnitudes indicate that the pressure is not isolated to a single asset but systemic.

Leverage position liquidations are accelerating significantly. Over a 24-hour period, approximately $237 million in long BTC positions were forced to close. When we expand the time horizon, the scale becomes even more impressive: in the past week, accumulated liquidations reach about $2.16 billion, and over the monthly period, the total exceeds $4.4 billion.

This cascading liquidation pattern works as follows: when Bitcoin’s price plummets, leveraged positions hit margin levels and are automatically sold. These forced sales push the price even lower, triggering more liquidations in a self-perpetuating cycle.

Leverage Exits the Market

Open interest in perpetual derivatives decreased by approximately 4.4% in just the last day, removing about $26 billion in market exposure. Extending this to the previous month, the total reduction in open interest in derivative instruments reaches roughly 34%, indicating a persistent deleveraging process rather than a simple one-day adjustment.

This structured deleveraging is precisely the mechanism driving the downward movement. As leveraged exposure diminishes, traders reposition portfolios toward lower risk. Bitcoin, being the dominant asset in derivatives markets, transmits this pressure to altcoins as market participants adopt a broad defensive stance.

Extreme Risk Sentiment Amplifies Pressure

The macroeconomic context has worsened the situation. Risk aversion is not limited to the crypto market—European stocks weakened, and concerns over tighter monetary policy created a widespread cautious climate in financial markets.

Meanwhile, large holders have added further concern. The strategy team reports an unrealized loss exceeding $900 million in Bitcoin, fueling fears that mass sell-offs could occur without warning. In an already fragile market with extreme fear sentiment, these rumors amplify selling pressure.

The result is a chain reaction: falling cryptocurrencies trigger more liquidations, which lead to more sales, reinforcing the negative sentiment. Altcoins suffer even more intensely because they depend on Bitcoin’s direction to determine their trajectory, acting as a market risk indicator.

Where Bitcoin and the Market Are Heading

Market observers point to the $75,000 level as a critical support for Bitcoin. Staying above this mark could allow for a gradual stabilization of the market. Any decisive break below it would put $70,000 into perspective as the next significant support area.

For the broader market to find relief, two elements are essential: Bitcoin needs to halt its downward movement, and the pace of liquidations must slow down. Until these conditions are met, volatility is likely to remain high, and any recovery attempts may face significant resistance.

The current situation does not represent circumstantial panic but rather the cumulative result of weeks of deleveraging in a market under continuous pressure. The data reveal a structural process, not a one-off event. Whether stabilization occurs will primarily depend on Bitcoin’s ability to find lasting support at these key levels and the market’s willingness to cease the withdrawal of exposure.