Crypto News: Crypto Longs Lose $580 Million as Bitcoin Drops to $78,000 — Global Bond Selloff and Inflation Fears Trigger Liquidation Cascade
Bitcoin slid to near $78,000 in Asian morning hours on Saturday, erasing all gains from the past week as a global bond market rout, back-to-back hot inflation prints, and rising oil prices combined to trigger the most severe crypto liquidation event in weeks. More than $580 million in positions were wiped out over 24 hours, with 95% of the damage hitting leveraged long bets — a one-sided flush that exposed just how heavily the market had been positioned for upside that did not arrive.
The liquidation cascade: $581 million, 95% longs
CoinGlass data showed $581 million in total liquidations over 24 hours, with $552 million coming from long positions and just $28 million from shorts. Bitcoin led individual asset liquidations at $189 million, followed by Ether at $151 million. The largest single liquidation order was a $21.59 million BTCUSDT position on Bitget.
A 95% long skew on a $581 million flush is the signature of a market caught leaning heavily in one direction when the move goes the other way. Leverage had been building on the bullish side through the week as traders positioned for a break above the 200-day moving average at $82,000 — a level that never gave way — and the unwind was correspondingly one-sided when the macro backdrop deteriorated sharply.
Price action: Bitcoin reverses a week of gains in 24 hours
Bitcoin dropped 3.2% over 24 hours to near $78,000, reversing all gains from the past seven days during which it had briefly traded above $82,000 following the Senate Banking Committee's advancement of the CLARITY Act. The legislative tailwind proved no match for a global bond market repricing that moved faster and with more force than any single crypto catalyst could offset.
Across the major tokens, losses were broad and deep. Solana fell 5% to $86.98, now down 7% over seven days. XRP slid 4.3% to $1.41, giving back most of Thursday's CLARITY Act-driven gains. Ether dropped 3.3% to $2,189, with its weekly decline widening to 5.3% — the worst performance among the majors. Dogecoin slipped 4.2% to $0.1095. BNB held up comparatively well, down 3.9% on the day but still up 1.1% over the prior seven days — continuing its pattern of relative resilience during broad market weakness.
What triggered the move: a global bond market rout
The catalyst was a simultaneous deterioration in bond markets across multiple major economies. US 10-year Treasury yields topped 4.5%, extending the week's sharp climb. Japan's 30-year debt hit 4% for the first time on record. UK long-bond rates touched a 28-year high. The dollar extended its weekly gain. Brent crude settled above $105, driven by the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz — which handles one-fifth of global oil trade — and continued escalation in the US-Iran conflict.
Traditional markets reflected the same pressure. The S&P 500 fell 1.2% in its worst session since March, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropping 4% after weeks of leading the equity rally — a particularly significant reversal given that semiconductor strength had been one of the primary narratives supporting both equity and crypto risk appetite since April.
The inflation throughline
The common thread running through every element of Saturday's selloff is inflation. Back-to-back hot CPI and PPI prints earlier in the week — CPI rising 3.8% year-over-year and PPI posting its largest annual increase since 2022 — established that price pressures are re-accelerating rather than stabilizing. Oil above $105, driven by geopolitical supply disruption rather than demand growth, feeds directly into both headline inflation and consumer costs in ways that are difficult for central banks to look through.
The cumulative effect has been a dramatic and rapid repricing of Federal Reserve expectations. Traders have shifted from pricing in rate cuts through 2026 to assigning nearly 50% odds of at least one rate hike by year-end — a complete reversal from the prevailing consensus of just two weeks ago. Crypto, which had been pricing in liquidity easing through 2026 as a core part of its bull thesis, is now repricing the opposite scenario in real time.
What comes next
The critical question heading into the following week is whether the inflation and bond yield trajectory stabilizes or continues to accelerate. If oil remains above $100 and bond yields keep climbing, the Fed rate hike narrative will gain further traction — removing the macro tailwind that has underpinned Bitcoin's recovery from its April lows.
Bitcoin's near-term support sits around $78,000 to $79,000, with CryptoQuant having previously identified $70,000 — the aggregate cost basis of the market — as the deeper support level if the current weakness extends. A recovery back above $82,000 and the 200-day moving average would require either a reversal in bond yields or a fresh crypto-specific catalyst strong enough to overcome the macro headwind — neither of which appears imminent heading into the weekend.
