TL;DR
- Bitcoin slid from $67,600 to about $64,435 in under two hours, briefly dipping below $65,000 and sparking roughly $505 million in liquidations.
- Bitcoin and Ethereum made up nearly 70% of the damage, with about $232 million and $126 million liquidated as policy uncertainty and geopolitical risk hit appetite.
- The Supreme Court ruled Trump’s reciprocal tariffs illegal, but he imposed a 10% tariff; resistance sits $65,250-$66,400 with supports $64,400, $63,500, $62,850.
Bitcoin fell sharply on Monday, briefly slipping under $65,000 and triggering a broad liquidation wave as traders repriced policy risk tied to President Donald Trump’s tariff stance. A fast drop turned macro uncertainty into forced selling. Price sank from about $67,600 to roughly $64,435 in under two hours during early Asian trading, before stabilizing near $66,280. Across the market, about $505 million in positions were liquidated in 24 hours, after an earlier tally showed more than $470 million wiped out. Traders now debate whether the move is trend change or a leverage cleanse for now.
Liquidations, tariffs, and the technical map
Liquidations were concentrated in the two largest assets, with Bitcoin accounting for about $232 million and Ethereum about $126 million, nearly 70% of the total. The washout was a leverage story, not a crypto-specific shock. HashKey Group researcher Tim Sun said the selloff was driven by policy uncertainty from shifting U.S. tariff signals, compounded by rising geopolitical risks that forced a repricing of risk assets. He added that institutional capital still treats crypto as a risk asset, “anchored at the far end of the risk curve,” rather than a safe haven. That keeps bids cautious.
The policy backdrop became a catalyst in itself after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs illegal, yet Trump moved ahead with a sweeping 10% global tariff in response. Tariff whiplash is turning macro headlines into immediate price risk. Sun said the downturn was not a black swan event, but a broad repricing tied to uncertainty, sticky inflation, and geopolitical tension, which tightened risk appetite. He expects limited inflows and a protracted bottoming process, with periodic bounces more likely to be technical recoveries than durable trend reversals. Liquidity becomes the deciding variable for rallies.
Technical levels underscore how fragile the bounce remains. The chart is mapping a tight corridor of resistance overhead and layered support below. After printing a low near $64,203, bitcoin corrected above $64,500 but stayed well under $66,500 and the 100-hour moving average, with resistance flagged around $65,250 and a bigger hurdle near $66,400. Failure to reclaim $66,000 could keep the downtrend intact, with support cited near $64,400 and $64,200, then $63,500 and $62,850. A drop below $62,000 is viewed as making a quick recovery difficult. Upside targets include $67,000 and potentially $67,600 if cleared decisively.
