Overleveraged Bitcoin bulls get crushed in $576M wipeout

Crypto bulls saw more than half a billion dollars wiped out in liquidations after the crypto market printed red indexes all around. The cumulative digital assets market cap dipped by more than 2% over the last 24 hours to hover around $2.53 trillion.

Bitcoin saw $55 billion leave its market cap amid the fresh sell-off. BTC price dropped by 3% while Ether slid by 4%. This comes in when the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed its planned exemption framework linked to tokenized crypto stock trading. However, Kevin Warsh also got sworn in as the new chairman of the Federal Reserve.

BTC pullback wipes out bulls 

According to CoinGlass data, more than 124,000 traders were liquidated over the past 24 hours. The total liquidations went on to hit $574.28 million. The single largest liquidation reportedly occurred on Bitget through the BTCUSDT perpetual pair. That one order was valued at around $32.4 million.

Around 90% of those liquidated positions (approx $524 million) were bullish longs.  This suggests that traders were expecting the crypto market to keep recovering, but it went the other way.

Bitcoin price fell straight to the $75,000 level, triggering the liquidation of $214 million alone. Data shows that $209 million worth of liquidated bets (97%) turned out to be long positions. BTC has been dealing with mixed sentiments lately. Its price has dropped by 3% in the last 30 days, but it has still remained up by almost 7% over the past 60 days.

The broader crypto market also weakened alongside Bitcoin. Ethereum, Solana, and XRP all declined more sharply as traders reduced risk exposure ahead of the weekend. The move comes during an increasingly fragile macro backdrop.

Cryptopolitan reported that Kevin Warsh was officially sworn in as the new chairman of the Federal Reserve. He was appointed by US President Donald Trump. However, Jerome Powell will reportedly remain at the Fed as a governor. During the swearing-in ceremony, Warsh said he would lead a “reform-oriented Federal Reserve” while learning from both past successes and failures.

BTC traders face $2B liquidation risk 

Markets are also reacting to escalating tensions involving Iran. Reports suggest Trump is preparing for potential new military strikes against Iran. This comes after he canceled Memorial Day weekend plans. 

Multiple US military and intelligence officials reportedly also canceled travel plans and were placed on standby. This has fueled concerns that another geopolitical escalation could hit global markets.

Bitcoin continues hovering inside a highly leveraged trading zone. Analysts suggest that it could trigger even larger forced liquidations. CoinGlass liquidation heat maps show that if Bitcoin falls below roughly $73,786, then it can trigger more than $1.29 billion in leveraged long positions of liquidation. It added that a breakout above roughly $80,995 would activate around $1.22 billion in bearish short positions.

Derivatives analysts describe this setup as a liquidation “minefield”. This is where relatively small price moves can rapidly trigger cascading liquidations on either side of the market. It is being warned that Bitcoin breaking below $70,346 would place more than $2 billion in bullish positions at risk.