Bitcoin Drops Below $82,000 as Crypto Liquidations Hit $771 Million

Bitcoin dropped below $82,000 on Monday evening as selling pressure spread across the cryptocurrency market, wiping out hundreds of millions of dollars in leveraged positions. Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Zcash also recorded significant losses as investors reduced exposure to risk assets.

Bitcoin fell 2.8% over 24 hours to $81,382 at 9:20 p.m. ET on Monday, retreating from approximately $84,200 earlier in the day. Ethereum declined 4.6% to $2,425, while Zcash posted the steepest loss among the top 10 cryptocurrencies, falling 10.4% to $1,149. Solana dropped 7.5%, and XRP lost 6.4%.

Long Positions Account for Most Crypto Liquidations

The market downturn triggered approximately $771 million in crypto liquidations over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data. Long positions accounted for $685.6 million of the total, indicating that traders betting on higher prices suffered most of the losses.

Liquidations accelerated during the final 12 hours of the reporting period, reaching $631.8 million. Of that amount, around $600 million came from long positions.

Liquidations happen when exchanges forcibly close leveraged trades after traders incur substantial losses or fail to maintain the required margin. These forced closures can add to selling pressure, pushing prices lower and triggering further liquidations. Reported figures may also underestimate the actual scale of market activity.

Macroeconomic Pressure and ETF Outflows Weigh on Bitcoin

The decline came as investors faced uncertainty surrounding the broader economic outlook and upcoming U.S. inflation data.

Dominick John, an analyst at Zeus Research, attributed Bitcoin's pullback to a combination of macroeconomic pressure, weaker institutional demand and cautious positioning ahead of the inflation figures. He pointed to elevated U.S. Treasury yields and a stronger dollar as factors weighing on demand for risk assets.

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also recorded substantial withdrawals. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs registered $681.1 million in net outflows last week, marking their worst weekly performance since late June. Spot Ethereum ETFs recorded another $542 million in net outflows over the same period.

The figures added to concerns that institutional demand for digital assets was weakening as market sentiment deteriorated.

South Korean Stock Sell-Off Adds to Market Pressure

Selling pressure also spread through Asian financial markets on Tuesday. South Korea's Kospi index fell 6.1% by 10:45 a.m. local time, reflecting broader weakness in regional equities.

Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee suggested that the sharp decline in South Korean stocks could be spilling over into cryptocurrency markets.

Min Jung, a research associate at Presto Research, linked the weakness in Asian equities to pressure on U.S. technology stocks, particularly semiconductor and memory companies. The Kospi's decline also triggered a sell-side circuit breaker, according to the researcher.

The simultaneous declines across stocks and cryptocurrencies highlighted investors' sensitivity to broader market conditions and shifts in risk appetite.

Strategy and Bitmine Continue Building Crypto Treasuries

Despite the market downturn, two major corporate cryptocurrency holders continued expanding their reserves.

Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, disclosed that it purchased another 250 Bitcoin for approximately $21.5 million between October 5 and October 11. The company paid an average of $86,194 per Bitcoin, including fees, placing its latest purchases above Bitcoin's reported market price during Monday evening's sell-off.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies also increased its Ethereum holdings after acquiring 12,532 ETH over the previous week. The purchase brought the company's total Ethereum treasury to 6,028,946 ETH.

These acquisitions showed that both companies continued accumulating digital assets even as prices weakened and leveraged traders faced mounting losses.

Some market observers cautioned against interpreting the latest decline as definitive evidence that the broader crypto rally had ended.