Bitcoin drops below $76K, wiping out $100M in long positions

Bitcoin slid below $76,000, triggering a wave of forced selling that wiped out $100 million in long positions across crypto derivatives platforms.

The sell-off caught bullish traders flat-footed, with cascading liquidations amplifying downward pressure on an already fragile market.

The liquidation cascade

When leveraged long positions get liquidated, exchanges automatically sell the underlying asset to cover the borrowed funds. That forced selling creates additional downward pressure, which triggers more liquidations, which creates more selling.

According to CoinGlass data, the broader pattern around this price level has been brutal for leveraged bulls. During a similar stretch of volatility in August, Bitcoin’s drop from roughly $79,500 to around $77,000 generated approximately $547 million in liquidations. In one particularly violent 24-hour window, total liquidations across all crypto platforms exceeded $1.2 billion.

Long positions bore the brunt of the damage in that session, accounting for about $659 million in forced closures compared to just $148 million on the short side. That’s a ratio of more than four to one.

Individual blowups on platforms like Hyperliquid were especially dramatic, with single long liquidations ranging from $23 million to $48 million.