At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $78,000 — levels last seen in April 2025, when U.S. President Donald Trump pushed through the first trade tariff measures.
The situation has been even more dramatic in the derivatives market. In just the past four hours, positions worth $1.87 billion have been liquidated. The heaviest losses were borne by traders who were betting on a market rebound: they accounted for approximately $1.79 billion in liquidations, a significant share of which came from Ethereum (around $850 million).
Nearly half of all liquidations occurred on the perpetual futures platform Hyperliquid. On X (formerly Twitter), reports are emerging of several traders with positions worth tens of millions of dollars who were either forcibly liquidated or forced to close their trades.
Overall, investors appear to be moving to the sidelines. Open interest in Bitcoin — a measure of overall market engagement — has fallen by 8.3% over the past 24 hours.
The sharp market move briefly pushed MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings into unrealized losses. For reference, the company’s average BTC purchase price stands at $76,037. MicroStrategy chairman Michael Saylor commented on the situation on X with a brief remark: “₿uilt for the Long Run.”
The exact reasons behind the sell-off remain unclear for now. On X, there are isolated claims about possible coordinated sell-offs in the crypto market, but no confirmed evidence has emerged.
Additional pressure on investor sentiment may be coming from rising geopolitical risks in the Middle East, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran recently announced that its armed forces have been placed on “full defensive and combat readiness,” while the United States has been deploying naval vessels to the region for several consecutive days.
