Bitcoin fell through the $90,000 level on Tuesday as a rapid shift in global risk appetite set off a cascade of forced selling across cryptocurrency markets, wiping out more than $1 billion in leveraged bullish positions.
Data from CoinGlass showed that 183,066 traders were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with total liquidations amounting to $1.09 billion. Long positions represented nearly 92% of the total, highlighting how one-sided positioning had become. The largest single loss was a $13.52 million BTCUSDT liquidation on Bitget.
Liquidations occur when exchanges automatically close leveraged positions after losses exhaust a trader’s margin, often intensifying price moves during periods of stress. Such liquidation cascades are typically associated with market extremes, where sentiment becomes overly skewed and the risk of a near-term reversal increases.
Bitcoin declined by as much as 3% during the session, hitting a low of $87,800 in late U.S. trading before rebounding above $89,000 during Asian hours. The drop reversed last week’s consolidation near recent highs.
The crypto pullback came as broader financial markets turned defensive. Investor confidence was shaken after President Donald Trump renewed threats to impose tariffs on European countries that rejected his Greenland-related proposal, reviving concerns around trade tensions and policy uncertainty.
Adding to the pressure, a selloff in Japanese government bonds pushed global yields higher, tightening financial conditions. These crosscurrents weighed on risk assets more broadly, particularly after an extended rally driven by enthusiasm around artificial intelligence lifted global equity markets to record levels.
With volatility suppressed and positioning stretched, crypto markets proved especially vulnerable once sentiment began to unwind.
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