Bitcoin Price Falls Below $84,000 as $487 Million in Longs Liquidate

Bitcoin price falls below $84,000 as leveraged bets on further gains unraveled, with most of the damage packed into a few hours late Tuesday. The Bitcoin price slid to a 24-hour low of $83,647.88, as Bitcoin long liquidations piled up and a Bitcoin liquidation wave fed a wider crypto market selloff. Longs made up nearly 97% of the liquidations during the sharpest four-hour stretch, while US government-linked wallets also moved $103 million in BTC and BNB ahead of the US midterms.

Bitcoin Price Falls as Long Liquidations Shake Crypto Markets

The world’s largest cryptocurrency lost 1.7% over 24 hours and traded at $84,071 as of 11:20 p.m. ET on Tuesday, according to The Block. Ethereum fared worse, dropping 3.3% to $2,612. At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price stands at $83,984 on CoinGecko, inside a 24-hour range of $83,647.88 to $86,648.14. Even as the Bitcoin price falls, BTC still holds a 1.3% gain on the week.

Bitcoin Long Liquidations Drive The Crypto Market Selloff

CoinGlass data shows $555.6 million in crypto liquidations over 24 hours, and $487.2 million of that came from longs. About $429.8 million vanished within just four hours, including roughly $415.3 million in longs.

A Bitcoin liquidation happens when an exchange forcibly closes a position because losses have eaten through the trader’s margin. Those forced sales can push prices lower right when the market is already sliding, and a small dip can snowball once the Bitcoin price falls past key levels. Public data also tends to understate the real total, so Bitcoin long liquidations may have run higher than the reports show.

Dominick John, analyst at Zeus Research, said:

“Bitcoin’s pullback appears primarily driven by profit-taking and forced long liquidations, following a build-up in open interest and funding rates that left the market vulnerable to deleveraging.”

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index sat at 62, still in “greed,” but down from 67 a day earlier. John said the softer sentiment, and also modest altcoin underperformance, added to the downside pressure.

US Government Wallets Move $103 Million Before Bitcoin Price Falls

Hours before the slide, on-chain trackers spotted transfers from US government-linked wallets. The wallets sent 833.6 BTC, worth $71.56 million, to Coinbase Prime, while 40,285 BNB, worth about $31.63 million, went to an unlabeled wallet.

Coinbase Prime handles custody and trading, so the deposit could serve either purpose. Nobody has confirmed a sale right now, and nothing ties the transfers to the crypto market selloff.

Analysts Weigh Midterms After The Bitcoin Price Falls

Jeff Ko, chief analyst of ViaBTC, had this to say:

“Let’s not forget that BTC actually closed Q3 up roughly 40%, alongside $6.5 billion of spot ETF inflows. If the $82,000-$83,000 area continues to hold, I would still view the current price action as a pretty constructive consolidation following the September breakout.”

That puts the $82,000-$83,000 zone in focus for the Bitcoin price right now. The Block’s 30-day chart also shows BTC and ETH still in positive territory for the month.

US midterm elections arrive in November, and a CryptoQuant analysis shows that Bitcoin gained 24.5%, 44.9% and 92.3% in the 12 months after the 2014, 2018 and 2022 midterms. The 2018 run was a rough one, though, as Bitcoin first dropped 45.5% in the month after that election.

Three elections make a small sample, and borrowing costs and crypto regulation still matter. For now, buyers need to soak up the selling, and traders will keep an eye on any new Bitcoin liquidation cluster, the next time the BTC price falls, and fresh moves from the government wallets.