Bitcoin Briefly Falls Below $62,000 as Crypto Long Liquidations Reach $1.5 Billion
Bitcoin briefly fell below the $62,000 level on Thursday morning in Hong Kong, triggering more than $1.5 billion in leveraged crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours as forced selling intensified the market’s sharpest decline in months.
According to CoinGlass data, more than 208,000 crypto traders were liquidated during the period. Bitcoin accounted for the largest share of losses, with liquidations exceeding $800 million, while Ethereum (ETH) recorded roughly $386 million in liquidated positions.
The liquidation wave came amid weakening institutional demand. Data from SoSoValue showed that investors withdrew approximately $1 billion from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs this week, extending the products’ record streak of net outflows.
In a note released on Thursday, Presto Research said Bitcoin’s weakness may reflect broader competition for investor capital rather than any crypto-specific negative catalyst.
The research firm noted that several of Bitcoin’s major pullbacks this year have coincided with rallies in gold and artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, as investors scaled back expectations for interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
If this trend continues, Bitcoin’s recovery may depend less on developments within the crypto market itself and more on easing inflation concerns and a renewed appetite for risk assets among investors.
