Bitcoin fell below the $87,000 level shortly after Wall Street opened on Monday, as fresh selling pressure triggered a wave of liquidations in bullish positions.
The move picked up speed around the opening bell.
Several traders pointed to activity on Binance and trading firm Wintermute as major sources of new supply entering the market at the same time.
Liquidations of long positions built quickly. One of the crypto trackers reported 100 million liquidation of long positions in five minutes.
In just over an hour, losses had already exceeded $200 million, based on data from CoinGlass.
The sharp drop highlighted how sensitive market positioning has become following Bitcoin’s recent effort to hold above nearby support levels.
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Among traders who were already leaning bearish, the reaction was muted rather than surprising.
Many said the sell-off had not yet shown signs of exhaustion and few saw reason to expect a clear trend reversal or even a sharp relief bounce in the near term.
“My only issue right now is that the sales volume is not very high, so we could see another bounce around $84,000,” trader Roman wrote in a post on X.
He said that the reduction in selling pressure could lead to a brief pause on the downside before the market makes its next move.
Looking at the exchange’s order book data, Daan Crypto Trades analyst described the current setup as a “massive liquidity hunt.”
He said price action could remain erratic in the new year, with “more bart movements around”, referring to sharp drops or spikes that quickly return to previous levels.
Others looked more measured, even as Bitcoin traded near fresh month-to-date lows.
AlejandroBTC said the broader structure still looks controlled and remains within a wider trading range.
“We’ve finally broken the range that’s been forming since early December,” he told followers on X. “That tells me we’re likely to sweep the next set of lows, but we’re still operating within a larger range.”
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Ethereum (ETH) treasury firm BitMine Immersion increased its digital assets over the past week, continuing its push to build a large ETH position.
In its latest disclosure, the company stated that it had purchased 102,259 ETH since its previous update.
That purchase increased his total holdings to about 3.96 million ETH, valued at $11.82 billion at the time of publication.