Bitcoin’s price dropped 3.24% in 7 hours, falling to $111,800, while the wider crypto market slipped 3.86%. This decline came during one of the biggest liquidation waves in recent months, wiping out over $1.7 billion in leveraged positions and impacting more than 407,000 traders in 24 hours.
In just one hour, the market saw liquidations of $1.07 billion. Long positions, which bet on prices going up, made up $1.05 billion of the losses, while short positions added around $27 million, as per data by Coinglass.
Ethereum (ETH) was the hardest hit, with $308.22 million liquidated, including $297.32 million from longs and $10 million from shorts. Bitcoin (BTC) followed with $214.25 million liquidated in the same period, most of it ($210.16 million) from longs.
The total losses over longer periods multiplied. In one hour, liquidations stood at $1.07 billion, in four hours at $1.11 billion, and over 12 hours at $1.57 billion, with $1.51 billion from longs. The largest single liquidation order came on OKX, in the BTC-USDT-SWAP pair, for $12.74 million.
Why Bitcoin fell?
Bitcoin’s drop came from a mix of technical weakness, large holders moving funds, and pressure from leveraged trading.
Bitcoin fell below a key support level at $115,400, triggering automatic selling in the market. It also stayed below its 30-day average of $112,935, showing that short-term momentum was weakening.
Traders use the RSI to measure how strong buying or selling is in the market. Bitcoin’s RSI is currently 53.65, which is neutral, but it indicates that buying momentum is starting to weaken.
Whales, or major market players, increased the selling pressure. Meanwhile, earlier this month, a long-dormant wallet moved 1,000 BTC ($116.6 million) after 12 years, sparking concern among traders.
Leverage trading also made the market fragile. As Bitcoin approached $117,000, many traders had large long and short positions. Open interest, which shows the total value of active contracts, jumped to $937 billion. When the price dropped, these positions were automatically closed, which caused a chain reaction of losses.
Market impact and price action
Bitcoin’s market value is now $2.25 trillion, down 2.41%, with trading volume surging 73.7% to $40.62 billion. The total crypto market fell 4.51%, bringing its value to $3.87 trillion.
From September 18–20, Bitcoin moved mostly sideways, but after September 20, it started trending down. On September 22, a sharp drop occurred. The price fell to $111,800 over one hour and has since shown a minor recovery, now trading at $112,863.
The long lower wick on this candle shows that sellers pushed the price down sharply, but buyers stepped in at $111,800, pushing it back above $112,800 before the hour closed. Buyers tried to hold the price, but it still closed lower, showing sellers were stronger.
What comes next?
The key level to watch is $112,000. If buyers continue to defend it, Bitcoin could bounce to $113,500–$114,500. A move above $115,000 would signal recovery. If it breaks below, the price could fall toward $110,000 with deeper losses pushing it as low as $108,000–$109,000.
Also Read: Bitcoin Whale Buys $680M in BTC Ahead of Fed’s Rate Cut Decision
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