Over $600M in Bitcoin Longs Liquidated As BTC Price Nears $60K

Bitcoin's ($BTC) brief plunge toward the $60,000 area triggered more than $600 million in long liquidations, raising doubts over whether the latest rebound marks a real bottom or just a relief bounce after the market politely evicted its overleveraged tenants.

$BTC price may rebound toward $70,000 next

$BTC fell to roughly $61,300 on Thursday before recovering 5.52% to around $64,690, with the rebound conveniently coinciding with reports that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to implement a ceasefire.

$BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The volatile move liquidated over $737 million in $BTC positions on a 24-hour rolling basis, with long traders absorbing most of the damage, according to data resource CoinGlass.

$BTC total liquidations. Source: CoinGlass

Over $617 million in long positions were wiped out, a tidy illustration of how aggressively bullish traders had positioned themselves before the sell-off. Still, Bitcoin's sharp 5.52% rebound encouraged some traders to declare a bottom with confidence usually reserved for calling a lottery win.

Trader RidaaXBT said $BTC could stage a relief bounce toward the $69,000–$70,000 range, implying that the liquidation-driven selloff may have exhausted near-term sellers. A comforting thought for anyone long who didn't enjoy their morning.

Related: Analyst says Bitcoin's $60K bottom signals weaken bear-market forecast

Analyst ZordXBT shared a similar view, pointing to Bitcoin's long downside wick as evidence that buyers stepped in aggressively near the lows. Classic wick interpretation: someone, somewhere, caught a falling knife.

On the other hand, crypto trader Hitman42.eth warned that $BTC bulls may be celebrating too early, noting that the Bitcoin bounce may end up trapping bulls — a scenario familiar to anyone who has ever bought a "bottom" before.

Bitcoin bear flag keeps $50K target in play

Bitcoin's weekly chart still shows a bear flag breakdown in progress, keeping the risk of a deeper drop toward the $50,000–$52,000 area alive and well. The setup follows $BTC's failure to reclaim the flag's upper trend line, with rising volumes adding weight to the downside move.

$BTC/USD weekly chart. Source: TradingView

However, the bearish scenario is not confirmed as long as $BTC trades above its 200-week simple moving average (200-week SMA, blue line) at around $61,800. This level has historically acted as a major cycle-bottom zone in past Bitcoin bear markets, including 2015, 2018 and 2020 — a résumé that should probably be on the SMA's LinkedIn.

A strong rebound from the 200-week SMA would weaken, or potentially invalidate, the bear flag breakdown, putting $BTC price in position to test $70,000 as the next upside target.

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