Bitcoin Slips Under $73K as Crypto Liquidations Near $1B

The crypto market saw almost $1 billion in liquidations over the past day as Bitcoin dipped under $73,000, with U.S. investors continuing to withdraw capital from spot Bitcoin ETFs amid escalating geopolitical tensions.

Bitcoin dropped to an intraday low of $72,712 Tuesday, and is currently trading at $73,330 down 3.3% over the past 24 hours, per CoinGecko data. BTC’s performance over the past week and year remains lackluster at -6% and -33%, respectively—underscoring the state of crypto markets, especially as the U.S. stock market, supported by the AI boom, continues to climb higher. The S&P 500 index is just 0.25% below its all-time high of 7,539.

Over the past 24 hours, $931 million worth of positions have been liquidated across the crypto market, per Coinglass data, even as Bitcoin fell less than 4%. It highlights that investors are using high leverage even as the leading crypto continues to chop in the $77,000 to $78,000 range.

What’s driving the downturn

The crypto market downturn comes as spot Bitcoin ETFs have been on an outflow streak over the past two weeks. In just three days, this week’s total outflows have hit $1.02 billion, adding to the last two weeks’ $1.26 billion and $1 billion outflows, according to SoSoValue data.

In addition, roughly $1.3 billion worth of BlackRock’s IBIT changed hands in the dark pool on Tuesday. Though the transaction occurred outside of the orderbooks, experts have flagged the trade as a net negative for the ecosystem.

“Partly this is due to ETF outflows, with serious amounts getting out; those hint at real directional recalibration rather than simple profit-taking or maybe adjusting hedged exposure,” Justin d’Anethan, head of research at crypto private markets advisory firm  Arctic Digital, told Decrypt.

Another key driver of the crypto price action is the escalation of the Middle East conflict. A fragile month-long ceasefire between the United States and Iran is on the verge of total collapse following a sharp escalation of direct military clashes near the Strait of Hormuz over the last 48 hours.

As a result, WTI crude oil prices are hovering around $92 per barrel. On prediction market Myriad, owned by Decrypt‘s parent company Dastan, users now put the chance of WTI crude’s next move taking it to $120 at 58%, up from 54% yesterday.

“The Iran news compressed price into a structure that has been weakening for two weeks,” Adam Haeems, head of asset management at Tesseract Group, told Decrypt. “ETF outflows are still net negative, the Coinbase Premium Index has stayed negative through both the rally and the pullback, and order-book depth on Coinbase sits in the low tens of millions within two percent of mid. When the book is that thin, every macro headline moves price further than the underlying flow would justify, without changing the regime.”

Investor sentiment continues to slide along with the price, with Myriad users putting the chance of Bitcoin dropping to $55,000 at 38% today, up from from 22% a week ago.