Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
-
BTC briefly dropped below the $75k level on Sunday as thin liquidity keeps traders at edge.
-
The leading cryptocurrency is now trading at $75,441, but the market structure remains weak.
Bitcoin Continues Its Poor Start to 2026
The cryptocurrency market is off to a poor start to 2026, ending January bearish. Bitcoin dropped below $75k on Sunday after losing more than 4% over the last 24 hours.
While it is now trading above $75,400, the structure remains weak and could record a slight selloff before rebounding to higher levels. The weekend dip stemmed from order book dynamics where liquidity has dried, allowing buy/sell trades to have an outsized impact on the going market rate.
According to CoinGlass, the market volatility saw $758 million worth of leveraged positions wiped out from the market. Long traders took the biggest hit, losing $584 million since Sunday, while short traders lost $174 million. The imbalance points to continued pressure as prices slide into thin liquidity.
Ether led the losses in the top 10 as it lost 10% of its value in the last 24 hours. With this massive drawdown, Ether is now trading at $2,185 and risks dropping below $2k if the bearish trend continues.
Dogecoin (DOGE) and Tron (TRX) posted smaller losses, while Cardano (ADA) lost its place in the top 10 list to Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Currently, analysts believe that the rebound above the mid-$70,000s suggests the selloff functioned more as a leverage reset than a structural repricing. With no macroeconomic conditions driving Bitcoin’s price action, leveraged positions could determine its movement in the near term.
