Bitcoin’s slide toward the $65,000 area triggered one of the largest crypto liquidation events of the year, wiping out roughly $1.8 billion in leveraged positions across digital-asset markets. The damage was concentrated overwhelmingly in long positions, showing how quickly bullish leverage can become forced sell pressure when key support levels fail.
The cascade unfolded alongside heavy spot Bitcoin ETF outflows, Strategy’s rare Bitcoin sale and broader risk-off pressure. Those forces created a negative feedback loop, where falling prices triggered margin calls, forced selling deepened the decline and weaker liquidity made each additional unwind more disruptive.
Long Traders Took the Heaviest Hit
CoinGlass-based figures showed about $1.84 billion in 24-hour liquidations, with more than 277,000 traders affected. Long positions accounted for roughly $1.66 billion of the wipeout, compared with about $180 million in short liquidations, confirming that the market was heavily positioned for a rebound before the break lower.
Bitcoin was the center of the unwind. One liquidation tally placed BTC long liquidations near $883 million, including a single $59.67 million BTC-USDT position closed on HTX. That kind of concentrated forced exit can accelerate volatility, especially when liquidity is already thinning across derivatives venues.
Ethereum and Solana also absorbed major pressure as the sell-off spread beyond Bitcoin. The liquidation wave was a derivatives-market event, not a protocol exploit, meaning the losses came from margin mechanics, stop-outs and perpetual-futures positioning rather than stolen funds or smart-contract failure.
ETF Outflows Added Institutional Pressure
Spot Bitcoin ETFs added another stress channel. U.S. spot Bitcoin products recorded about $519 million in net outflows on Tuesday, with BlackRock’s IBIT accounting for roughly $389 million of withdrawals. ETF redemptions weakened one of Bitcoin’s main institutional demand channels, leaving the market more exposed to leverage-driven selling.
Strategy’s disclosed sale added a symbolic shock, even though the amount was small. The company said in a June 1 filing that it sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31 for $2.5 million to fund preferred-stock distributions. The sale mattered more for sentiment than supply, because Strategy had long been viewed as a structural holder rather than a tactical seller.
Macro pressure further reduced risk appetite. Geopolitical uncertainty, tighter financial conditions and weaker institutional flows made leveraged long positions more fragile. When spot demand softens and funding markets are crowded, liquidation risk rises quickly.
For traders and risk desks, the episode reinforces two operational lessons. First, exchange leverage can cascade faster than spot liquidity can absorb. Second, ETF outflows now function as a systemic pressure gauge for Bitcoin market depth.
The next signals are clear: ETF flows, funding rates, open interest and whether Bitcoin can stabilize above the $65,000 to $70,000 zone. A durable recovery requires leverage to reset and spot demand to return, while continued redemptions could keep liquidity vulnerable to another forced unwind.
