Bitcoin has fallen below $90,000 for the first time this year, triggering a widespread sell-off in the crypto market while the U.S. remains asleep.
At 4 a.m. ET, Bitcoin’s decline dragged the total crypto market cap down 9.6% to $3.01 trillion.
In the past 24 hours alone, Bitcoin has dropped 7%, wiping out more than $230 billion from the total cryptocurrency market capitalization. Top altcoins like Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and BNB have also suffered, falling between 5% to 12%.
The sharp decline has resulted in massive liquidations across exchanges. Data from CoinGlass shows that 364,596 traders were liquidated in the last 24 hours, with total liquidations reaching $1.34 billion.
The largest single liquidation order occurred on Binance, where a BTC-USDT position worth $20.8 million was wiped out. Over $500 million in Bitcoin longs were liquidated, alongside $279 million in Ether longs.
Analysts weigh in on Bitcoin’s next move
Crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe shared his outlook on X (formerly Twitter), saying that Bitcoin is taking liquidity before a potential rebound.
"Anyways, mentioned this yesterday, Bitcoin needs to take all the liquidity. That's what we're currently doing," van de Poppe wrote. "Ultimate bottom case? $83-87K. Then we should be rotating upwards. The current sentiment is extremely peaking to the downside, so that's likely the case."
Alistair Milne, another Bitcoin anayst, pointed out that Bitcoin has entered oversold territory on the daily charts for the first time since August last year, when it dropped to $49,000.
"Being oversold (or even close to) on the daily is one of the most reliable indicators of bottom/reversal territory," Milne noted. "Only happens a handful of times per year."
Fear grips the market, but some say it’s not the end
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index has plunged to Extreme Fear, reading 25, indicating that traders are panicking amid the market downturn.
Chris Burniske, a well-known crypto analyst, compared this correction to similar mid-cycle pullbacks in previous bull runs, warning against calling this the start of a bear market.
"In the middle of 2021: $BTC drew down 56%, ETH drew down 61%, SOL drew down 67%. Many others 70-80%+," Burniske said. "You can come up with all the reasons for why this cycle is different, but the mid-bull reset we're going through isn't unprecedented. Those calling for a full-blown bear are misguided."
Ilman Shazhaev, founder and CEO of Dizzaract said the sentiment in the market is now beyond the Bybit hack.