Bitcoin Falls Below $80,000 for First Time Since October 15 as Liquidations Surge

Bitcoin slipped below $80,000 on Saturday, October 24, falling to a low of $79,750 in its first move under that level since October 15. CoinGape reported the price at $79,994.97 during the initial decline, down 1.91 percent over 24 hours, and a separate TokenPost report put the daily loss at 2.07 percent.

Liquidations build through the day

The fall forced leveraged traders out of their positions in stages. BTCMedia, citing CoinGlass data, reported $645.36 million liquidated across crypto markets in 24 hours, of which $504.53 million came from long positions, and $233.13 million was liquidated in a single hour during the first wave. Blockchain.News reported that more than $200 million in long positions were liquidated in a 15 minute window in the first reported breach, when Ethereum also fell below $2,350.

A second wave followed later in the day. TokenPost reported that liquidations reached $291 million in the hour ending at 11:18 a.m. ET on Saturday, with long positions accounting for $274 million against $17.33 million in short positions. Bitcoin liquidations were $86.79 million in that hour and Ether liquidations were $69.8 million, TokenPost reported. The two hourly totals cover different windows, so they are not a single combined figure, and each total is tied to the window its source reported.

Market was already lower at midday

The selling had started before the second wave. CoinPulseHQ, citing CoinGecko data, reported that at 13:00 UTC on Saturday the total crypto market was down 1.3 percent in 24 hours to $2.70 trillion, with Bitcoin at $80,674, down 1.1 percent, and Ether at $2,367, down 1.2 percent. Bitcoin dominance stood near 60.1 percent at that point, CoinPulseHQ reported. Bitcoin later moved back below $80,000 as the second liquidation wave hit.

Pressures behind the move

CoinGape listed several pressures behind the decline, including heavy withdrawals from United States spot Bitcoin exchange traded funds earlier in the week, uncertainty over United States monetary policy and Iran, and Brent crude above $100 keeping inflation fears alive. CoinGape also reported that leveraged long liquidations amplified the decline once the price broke lower, because exchanges close long positions automatically when traders cannot meet margin calls, and those forced sales push the price down further.

Exchange traded fund outflow figures reported for October 22 differed between sources, so this report does not publish a single outflow total for that day. The reports agree on the direction, with withdrawals from United States spot Bitcoin funds earlier in the week, and they differ on the amount.

What the numbers show

The pattern in the reported figures is a leveraged market caught on one side of the trade. Long positions made up $504.53 million of the $645.36 million liquidated in 24 hours in the CoinGlass count reported by BTCMedia, and $274 million of the $291 million liquidated in the hour ending at 11:18 a.m. ET in the TokenPost count. In both windows, traders who had bet on higher prices accounted for most of the losses, and their forced exits added selling pressure to a market that was already down on the day.