Bitcoin's $80k Breakout Wiped Out With $300M in Liquidations

Bitcoin's brief pullback below $78,000 triggered more than $300 million in crypto liquidations as traders took profits after a sharp rally. The largest cryptocurrency fell to $77,870 during the last 24 hours before recovering above $79,000. This price action led to about 80,000 liquidations over 24 hours, with losses totaling $324.4 million.

Long positions accounted for roughly $270 million of the wipeout, marking a sharp reversal from last week's rally when bearish traders absorbed most of the forced selling. The largest single liquidation was an $11.91 million Bitcoin position on Binance.

BTC longs lost about $109 million, while Ethereum longs accounted for roughly $70 million. XRP and Zcash long liquidations reached about $16 million and $11 million, respectively.

Crypto market maker Wintermute said the speed of the positioning shift resembled squeeze behavior. Once forced short covering runs its course, additional gains depend more heavily on buyers willing to enter at higher prices.