Bitcoin Plunges Below $84K After Failed Rally Sparks $600M Liquidations

On October 2, 2026, Bitcoin’s price plummeted below $84,000 after briefly surpassing $87,000 earlier in the day. The sudden reversal triggered widespread liquidations, with total crypto liquidations exceeding $570 million in 24 hours. Notably, $186 million of those liquidations occurred within a single hour, with long positions making up 99% of the losses, according to CoinGlass data cited by Cryptopotato.

The drop followed a softer-than-expected US jobs report, which initially boosted Bitcoin from $86,000 to $87,200. However, the rally was short-lived, and the price quickly fell to $85,500 before accelerating downward to under $84,000. This decline of over $3,000 in hours caught traders off guard, despite the positive macroeconomic backdrop.

Altcoins also followed Bitcoin’s downward trend. Ethereum briefly touched $2,750 before dropping by $100, XRP fell from $1.55 to $1.45, and other major altcoins like ZEC, DOGE, LINK, XMR, and ADA saw losses of up to 7% daily. The total crypto market cap shrank by nearly $80 billion, settling at $2.880 trillion.

Separately, Lighter (LIT) experienced a significant crash below $4.00 on September 30, 2026, after Robinhood shifted its focus to BitStamp for US perpetual futures. This move led to $7.2 million in liquidations, with long positions accounting for $6.9 million. Despite the price drop to $3.6719, LIT later rebounded slightly to $3.7325, with trading volume surging by 183% to $204 million.