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Bitcoin just had one of its most chaotic hours in recent memory, and the numbers speak for themselves. In just one hour, over $2.78 million in BTC long positions were erased, with a striking difference: $2.75 million in longs versus a mere $32,000 in shorts, as per CoinGlass. That is an 8,593% imbalance, which is an unusual ratio to see outside of extreme volatility events.
The sell-off happened when Bitcoin dropped below $117,000 in a fast and sudden move. This broke a sideways range it had been holding near its $123,000 all-time high.
One major reason for this is that a dormant whale wallet with more than 80,000 BTC began moving, with at least 16,843 BTC - worth nearly $2 billion - already traced to institutional desks.
The move happened at the same time as a bigger wave of profit-taking. In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin investors made $3.5 billion in profits - one of the biggest days of the year for realized profits. Long-term holders drove most of it, realizing $1.96 billion, while short-term holders accounted for $1.54 billion.
The crypto market took a hit all around. More than $460 million in liquidations happened in the last 24 hours, with BTC, ETH and XRP at the top of the list. Bitcoin alone saw $141 million in long liquidations, part of a broader washout across leverage-heavy positions.
Right now, Bitcoin is trading at around $116,700, which is still down over 4% for the day. But the bigger picture here is not just the dip. It is that when old supply moves, markets react fast and overexposed traders pay the price.
What looked like a chill consolidation phase just turned into a liquidity trap.
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team