Bitcoin dropped to $72,600 on Thursday, triggering a cascade of forced selling that erased $935 million in leveraged crypto positions across major exchanges. The rout hit long traders hardest — more than 80% of the liquidations came from bullish bets that got caught offside as the price briefly touched a three-month low.
The liquidation cascade
Data from derivatives trackers shows the $935 million figure is the highest single-day flush since early January. The bulk of the damage happened in a two-hour window late in the Asian session, when Bitcoin slipped below $73,000 and stop-losses stacked on top of each other. Over-leveraged positions on Binance, Bybit and OKX accounted for roughly 60% of the total. Ether, Solana and Dogecoin took hits too, but Bitcoin's drop was the main driver.
The timing isn't great. Open interest had been climbing all month as traders bet on a breakout above $80,000. Those positions are now in the red, and the speed of the unwind suggests a lot of margin calls went out faster than usual.
Why $70,000 matters
With the price sitting at $72,600, the number on every trader's screen is $70,000. That level has acted as both support and resistance through 2026 — it's where Bitcoin bounced in March and again in early May. A clean break below it would open up the next real floor around $65,000, but more importantly, it would trigger another wave of liquidations estimated at roughly $400 million in stacked leverage below that mark.
The order book is thinning out. Market depth on the Binance BTC/USDT pair has dropped about 15% over the past week, meaning a relatively modest sell order could push the price further than it would have a month ago. That amplifies the risk for anyone still holding a position near $71,000.
What traders are watching
Spot volumes on Coinbase and Kraken picked up noticeably during the sell-off — some of that is likely accumulation from buyers who see the dip as an entry. But futures premiums flipped negative on several exchanges, a sign that the professional crowd is hedging rather than buying the dip.
The next concrete test comes Friday evening U.S. time, when weekly options expire. About $1.2 billion in Bitcoin options are set to roll off, with the max pain point sitting at $74,000. If the price stays below that, market makers will have little incentive to push it higher ahead of expiry. That could keep the pressure on into the weekend.
