Key takeaways:

  • Bitcoin price on Tuesday is down 17% from its all-time high, dropping under $104,000.

  • Crypto liquidations totaled $1.3 billion in losses over the past 24 hours.

  • Traders say Bitcoin needs to quickly reclaim $105,000 to avoid a deeper correction toward $100,000. 


Bitcoin (BTC) bears extended the sell-side activity into the European Trading session on Tuesday as the drop to $104,000 resulted in a large liquidation of leveraged positions across the crypto market.

BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin wipes out liquidity in tumble to $104,000

BTC price fell as low as $104,130 on Tuesday, reversing Sunday’s spike to $111,000 as derivatives traders adopted a risk-off stance.

This extended the deviation from the Oct. 6 all-time high of $126,000 to 17% and was accompanied by massive liquidations across the derivatives market.

Related: Retail investors 'retreat’ to $98.5K: 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

More than $1.21 billion in long positions were liquidated, with Bitcoin accounting for $377 million of that total. Ether (ETH) followed with $316.6 million in long liquidations.

Across the board, a total of $1.36 billion was wiped out of the market in short and long positions, as shown in the figure below.

Crypto liquidations (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

The single biggest liquidation occurred on HTX, where a $47.87 million BTC-USDT long position was closed.

Large clusters of long liquidations can signal capitulation and potential short-term bottoms, while heavy short wipeouts may precede local tops as momentum flips. 

Additional data from CoinGlass showed a 4% drop in Bitcoin’s futures open interest (OI) over the last 24 hours across all exchanges. The decline was more pronounced on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, whose Bitcoin OI has fallen by 9% over the last 24 hours. 

Even though futures longs (buyers) and shorts (sellers) are always matched, declining OI suggests reduced leverage and market participation, potentially signaling weaker bullish sentiment.

For example, a 10% decrease in OI between Sept. 19 and Sept. 28 was accompanied by an 8% drop in BTC price.

$100,000 is now Bitcoin’s last line of defense

BTC swept lows below $105,000, leaving questions among traders about where Bitcoin is likely to find support.

“After a bunch of attempts, bears have finally forced their Bitcoin breakdown,” said trader Jelle in a Tuesday post on X. 

According to Jelle, Bitcoin was required to reclaim the $105,000-$107,000 zone to avoid a deeper correction toward $100,000. 

“The next area of support is $100K.”
BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Jelle

Bitcoin trader AlphaBTC said that a daily candlestick close below yesterday’s low, around $105,300, could trigger a fresh downward leg below the $100,000 psychological level.

As Cointelegraph reported, bulls are expected to defend the $100,000 level aggressively, as a break below it may plunge Bitcoin into a new downtrend.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.