Bitcoin falls $3,000, liquidations wipe out $100M
Bitcoin plunged about $3,000 to $62,369 on July 31, liquidating roughly $100 million in long derivatives and cutting July gains to about 4.5%.
Bitcoin dropped about $3,000 over a roughly 12-hour period on July 31, reaching an intraday low of $62,369 and reversing a recent rally that had pushed the price above $65,000. Exchange data show the slide erased about $100 million in long derivative positions and reduced the cryptocurrency’s July gain to about 4.5%.
The token hit an intraday peak near $65,340 before a gradual decline to just under $63,600. A sharp wave of selling then pushed the price to $62,369, the lowest level since July 17. A modest rebound kept the price above $62,000, and bitcoin finished the session down about 3% for the day and just over 2% for the week. Market capitalization fell from roughly $1.3 trillion to about $1.26 trillion.
Derivatives markets recorded heavy liquidations. Long positions worth about $100 million were closed out, about four times the $23 million liquidated the day before. Short positions totaling nearly $21 million were also wiped out. Across the broader crypto market, exchange and platform data show nearly $360 million in leveraged positions were liquidated in the 24-hour window, with long bets accounting for around $235 million, or roughly 65% of the total.
Traders had linked the prior rally to the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates steady. Market sentiment was also affected by stalled legislation in Washington. Senator Cynthia Lummis renewed calls for passage of the CLARITY Act ahead of the August recess. Senate leadership has not scheduled floor time for the bill and it remains short of the 60 votes required for passage; prediction markets have cut the odds of the measure passing in 2026 to about 30% from over 80% in February.
Rapid selling in spot markets together with the cascade of automatic liquidations in futures and other leveraged products accounted for much of the intraday move. The event followed smaller but notable derivative losses the previous day and reduced bitcoin’s monthly performance from nearly 10% earlier in the week to about 4.5% by midafternoon Eastern Time.
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