The Bitcoin experiment is over. Thank you Mr. President. You are all holding Beanie Babies now. Buy silver. Buy gold.
At least that’s the reaction from cryptocurrency Twitter and Reddit. The real fear – and for some, the hope – is being able to afford it again in your lifetime.
As Bitcoin fell to $81,000, CoinGecko screens around the world lit up red and the market collapsed within seconds. More than $1.68 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out in one day, a rapid liquidation that caught traders off guard and overexposed them.
About 267,000 accounts were liquidated, with long accounts accounting for about 93% of the losses. This isn’t panic selling, it’s leverage collapsing under its own weight. Bitcoin absorbed losses of approximately $780 million, while Ethereum absorbed losses of $414 million.
The biggest worry now is that the next wave of buyers can no longer afford Bitcoin. We don’t mean unit deviation. We literally mean they have zero revenue. Gen Alpha views holding one Bitcoin as a symbol of success. Is Bitcoin price too high?
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Liquidation data shows how concentrated risk is across venues. Hyperliquid’s forced liquidation amount was approximately $598 million, of which more than 94% were long positions.
Bybit followed with $339 million liquidated, while Binance liquidated $181 million. This is not panic selling by spot holders, but margin calculations at work.
There is a chain reaction of liquidations as falling prices trigger margin calls, forcing selling, which drives prices down again. Once momentum reverses, the exits can quickly become crowded.
According to CoinGlass, total cryptocurrency open interest dropped sharply along with the sell-off, confirming that leverage was being diluted rather than rotated. Glassnode data shows that funding rates have remained positive during the decline, a classic sign of one-sided positions.
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The spillover effects of the Bitcoin crash were immediate. Shares related to Strategy, Bitmine Immersion Technologies and Gemini all fell nearly 10% in regular trading.
As things stand, many are egging on the downfall of Strategy and Michael Saylor, one of the most outspoken and public figures in the cryptocurrency market.
The silver lining is that Strategy is currently priced below its net asset value of nearly $73.62 billion in total assets. For over a year, the stock has essentially been viewed as down 2x Bitcoin and up 0.5x Bitcoin. If Saylor doesn’t get liquidated, it will go up.
