Bitcoin dips below $61,000, triggering $172M in long liquidations

Bitcoin slid below $61,000 and kept falling, bottoming out at an intraday low of $59,227 as a wave of forced selling swept through crypto markets. In the space of just one hour, $172 million worth of leveraged long positions on BTC were wiped out.

The broader damage was far worse. Total liquidations across cryptocurrency markets hit $1.6 billion, with $1.21 billion of that coming from traders who had bet on prices going up. Roughly 308,000 traders got liquidated within a 24-hour window, according to CoinGlass data.

A jobs report lit the fuse

The catalyst was decidedly old-school: a US jobs report. The June 5 employment data came in stronger than expected, which sounds like good news until you remember what it means for Federal Reserve policy. Hotter labor market equals less reason for the Fed to cut rates. Less rate-cutting means a stronger dollar and higher Treasury yields, both of which tend to siphon capital away from risk assets.

The Nasdaq 100 dropped approximately 5% in response. Bitcoin, which has increasingly traded like a leveraged tech bet, followed it right off the cliff.

Crypto didn’t just mirror equities on the way down. It amplified the move. While the Nasdaq fell 5%, Ethereum shed more than 21% for the week, and Solana lost nearly 24%.

ETF outflows and a rare Strategy sale added pressure

The macro shock wasn’t the only headwind. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded record outflows during the selloff.

Adding another layer of pressure: Strategy, the corporate entity associated with MicroStrategy, sold Bitcoin for the first time since 2022.

Total BTC liquidations over the 24-hour period reached approximately $534 million, while ETH liquidations hit roughly $423 million, per CoinGlass. Those numbers underscore that the pain was distributed broadly across the market, not isolated to a single asset.

What this means for investors

Bitcoin did manage to claw back above $61,000 during Asian trading hours on June 6, which at least suggests the $59,000 level attracted some dip-buying interest.

For traders running leveraged positions, the math is unforgiving. When $172 million in longs get liquidated in 60 minutes, there’s no time to react. The position is gone before most people finish reading the jobs report headline.

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