Bitcoin flash crashed more than 5% Tuesday morning, slipping from $71,765 to $67,895 in a rapid selloff that triggered $394 million in liquidations within the first hour — and a staggering $1.02 billion across crypto markets over 24 hours. The sudden drop hit during early U.S. trading, catching many long-leveraged positions off guard and spilling into ether and XRP.
The liquidation cascade
The damage was concentrated in long positions. They accounted for $384 million of the $394 million hourly total. Shorts lost just $10.2 million in the same span. By the time the dust settled, bitcoin traders had seen $209 million in liquidations alone. Ethereum gave up about 4% to $1,941, with $87 million in longs wiped out. XRP fell more than 3% to $1.24, losing $11 million. Solana saw $27 million in forced closures.
It was a one-sided rout. Overleveraged bulls got eviscerated.
Strategy's symbolic sale
Adding to the narrative: Strategy — the corporate bitcoin holder formerly known as MicroStrategy — sold 32 bitcoin for $2.5 million to cover dividend obligations. It was the company's first known sale, and market participants quickly cited it as a psychological factor. But not the cause.
Pierre Rochard, a noted bitcoin advocate, attributed the selloff to a broader capital reallocation into AI-related equities and macroeconomic pressures — a resilient labor market and rising energy prices that are killing rate cut expectations. “It's not just about one company selling 32 coins,” he said. “The macro backdrop is shifting.”
On-chain levels breached
Bitcoin sliced through several key on-chain support levels during the crash, including the short-term holder cost basis of $76,900, the true market mean of $78,000, and the active investors' mean of $85,100. That's territory that hasn't been tested in months. The one bright spot: BTC remained above the aggregate realized price of $54,000 — a level that has historically acted as a floor during deep corrections.
Whether that floor holds is the open question. With rate cut hopes fading and AI stocks pulling capital out of crypto, the macro winds aren't blowing in bitcoin's favor right now. Tuesday's crash reset leverage across the board, but the market is watching to see if $54,000 becomes the line in the sand.
