Bitcoin Reclaims $76K After Fed Pause; $266M Longs Liquidated

Bitcoin reclaimed the $76,000 level on Thursday after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, and roughly $266 million in leveraged long positions were liquidated during a session of sharp intraday swings.

The rebound put bitcoin on track for an approximate 13% gain in April and lifted its market capitalization to about $1.53 trillion.

Following the Fed announcement, the cryptocurrency briefly fell to about $75,000 in the afternoon, then recovered by 9:30 a.m. ET to move above $76,000 and test resistance near $76,500. It reached a morning high of $76,365, dropped to just under $75,400 and later rallied to an intraday peak of $76,528 within eight hours. Over a 24-hour span bitcoin finished up 0.7%.

The swings triggered a wave of liquidations. An early-session reversal wiped out roughly $75 million in long positions and nearly $17 million in shorts during that episode. Data for the full 24-hour period showed about $266 million in long positions liquidated versus roughly $89 million in shorts across the crypto market.

Market participants pointed to larger structural flows beyond the Fed decision. Gracie Lin, CEO of OKX Singapore, highlighted about $3.7 billion in inflows to U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds between late February and late April, marking the first sustained inflow period of 2026 after four months of outflows. Lin added that institutional allocators in Singapore are watching whether that participation is sustained rather than focusing on single central bank decisions.

Sergei Gorev, head of risk at Youhodler, noted that bitcoin has recorded two consecutive quarters of decline and warned that historical patterns tied to changes in Federal Reserve leadership have coincided with price weakness. Gorev said that if bitcoin follows the pattern observed after eight of the Fed’s last nine meetings, the price could fall below $70,000.

The trading session followed a recent test of the $80,000 level. Some traders have pointed to ETF inflows and higher intraday highs as signs of an eight-week recovery in price structure, while liquidation events and possible policy-driven volatility continue to present risks for leveraged positions.