Bitcoin (BTC) sold off sharply during early Asian trading on Thursday, falling to $72,620 and triggering widespread liquidations across the crypto market. The 4.5% drop from Wednesday's high of $76,050 marked a six-week low, reversing gains made since mid-April.
Over the past 24 hours, total crypto liquidations reached $935.6 million, with long positions accounting for $874 million of that amount. Bitcoin alone saw $348.5 million in long liquidations, while Ether followed with $228.5 million. The single largest liquidation was a $15.34 million BTC-USD long position closed on Hyperliquid.
The sell-off came amid renewed US military strikes on Iran, adding geopolitical pressure. Bitcoin futures open interest dropped across exchanges, with the CME and BingX seeing declines of 9.8% and 9%, respectively, signaling reduced leverage and bearish sentiment.
US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded outflows for eight consecutive days, totaling $2.6 billion. Wednesday's $733 million outflow was the largest single-day withdrawal since January 29.
Analysts say $70,000 is now the critical support level. A drop below could trigger a deeper correction toward $65,000. MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe called the sell-off a "standard approach" typical of month-end rebalancing, but warned that losing the $71,400-$73,400 support zone could lead to tests in the low $60Ks.
Traders are watching the 100-day simple moving average at $73,000 and the demand zone above $70,000 as key near-term support levels.