Bitcoin Drops Below $75K; $941M in Crypto Liquidations

Bitcoin fell below $75,000 for the first time since mid‑April, sliding more than 3% over 24 hours to a low of $74,255 after trading above $77,000 earlier in the session. Ether declined about 5% to roughly $2,065. Hyperliquid lost more than 7% to near $55. XRP, Cardano, BNB, Solana and Dogecoin traded lower as selling widened across the market.

The pullback came as the CLARITY Act advanced in Congress, but market attention shifted to spot demand and fund flows after Bitcoin failed to hold the $75,000 technical level. Julio Moreno, head of research at CryptoQuant, noted that Bitcoin spot demand is contracting at the fastest rate since Jan. 10.

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded more than $2 billion in cumulative outflows over the past two weeks. Spot ETFs had been a main channel for institutional allocation into Bitcoin; when funds receive inflows, issuers typically buy Bitcoin to back new shares, and outflows remove that source of demand.

Data from CoinGlass showed roughly $941 million in derivatives positions were liquidated across the market in 24 hours, affecting more than 161,200 traders. Bitcoin-linked contracts accounted for about $378 million of the losses and ether-linked contracts about $255 million. The largest single liquidation was a $32.4 million Bitcoin swap on Bitget.

Liquidations of long positions totaled about $870 million, while short positions incurred roughly $71.4 million in losses.

On-chain risk metrics pointed to elevated pressure. Joao Wedson, chief executive of analytics firm Alphractal, said Bitcoin’s annualized Sharpe ratio has moved into negative territory, while ether’s Sharpe ratio sits near zero. Wedson added that prolonged periods with a negative Sharpe ratio have frequently appeared around cyclical market bottoms, but the metrics do not guarantee a market floor.

Market participants view the near-term outlook as dependent on whether spot demand and ETF flows stabilize and whether leveraged positions stop cascading as prices test recent support levels.