Analysts warn Bitcoin traders: Prepare for max pain

Traders looking for silver linings as Bitcoin price dropped to $65,710 on June 3 are not getting it from analysts who point to how derivatives trades are setting up and the long line to exit crypto funds in their warnings that more pain could be coming.

The money leaving crypto is not disappearing into thin air, though. Cryptopolitan has reported how this latest selloff has been a result of money leaving crypto positions for traditional equities, AI-related IPOs have sucked the air out of the room, and even BTC miners have pivoted to AI infrastructure plays often funded with token sales that led to a record offload amount in Q1 2026. 

Bad news from crypto ETF outflows and liquidations  

Between them, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs hold $85 billion and represent 6.28% of Bitcoin’s market capitalization, so any day of big inflows or outflows is often reflected on the price charts.

Investors pulled out $519 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs on June 2, according to SoSoValue data. BlackRock’s IBIT was deepest in the red, reporting $388.6 million in single-day redemptions. Grayscale’s GBTC followed at $83.5 million and Fidelity’s FBTC at $45.1 million. 

Ethereum spot ETFs had an almost equally awful day, as cumulative net inflows into Ether ETFs have now shrunk to $11.24 billion. SoSoValue showed that $90.15 million was left in Ether funds on June 2, with BlackRock’s ETHA accounting for $44.27 million and Grayscale’s ETH product losing $25.41 million.

Not only did the sustained withdrawals from ETFs represent a reversal from the strong institutional demand that supported prices earlier in 2026, but the accompanying price drop triggered forced selling across derivatives markets. 

Reports note that between $1.33 and $1.8 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated within 24 hours, with traders betting on the long side taking hits of over $1.35 billion. 

Analysts struggle to find positives

Axel Adler Jr., an on-chain analyst, published data on June 3 showing that the market is deep in risk-off territory. He pointed to Bitcoin’s slow impulse indicator, which has collapsed to -59, and the fast impulse indicator is pinned near -90. 

Another source of concern is the 30-day net taker volume, which has crossed below zero for the first time in nearly three months. The 30-day net taker volume is supposed to be an indicator of whether aggressive buyers or sellers dominate futures order flow. 

“The fuel that supported the spring rally has been exhausted, but the process itself is still in its early stage,” Adler wrote.

Strategy selling Bitcoin is no small headache 

After making news on an almost weekly basis for buying Bitcoin, Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, disclosed a small sale of its holdings on Monday. That $32 million offload was the firm’s first in nearly four years, but it sent the wrong kind of message at a time the market was already fragile. 

CoinMarketCap data showed Bitcoin trading near $66,949 as of June 3, down roughly 4% over the last 24 hours and more than 11% in the last week. Ethereum, XRP, Solana, Dogecoin, and other large-cap altcoins are also nursing losses between 5% and 8% across the board.

For now, the signs are not so good, and max pain may be ahead for traders, according to analyst sentiments backed by cooling ETF demand data, negative momentum indicators, selling by the market’s largest corporate holder for the first time in years, and forcibly cleared leverage.