Bitcoin dips under $60K as $1.57B liquidations wipe out long bets

Bitcoin fell below $60,000 on June 5, 2026, and $1.57 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated across crypto exchanges, according to market data. About $1.28 billion of those liquidations were long positions.

Prices on Bitstamp touched a low of $59,743 before bitcoin rebounded to roughly $61,000 and later reached about $64,600 during the same session, settling just under $64,000 after the intraday swing. The drop erased more than $14,000 from bitcoin’s price over the first five days of June, a decline of nearly 20% since June 1. Year-to-date losses widened to about 30% and bitcoin’s market capitalization briefly fell below $1.2 trillion.

The wider crypto market lost an estimated $200 billion in value, reducing the aggregate market capitalization to about $2.23 trillion. Several altcoins recorded double-digit percentage declines over the same period.

Data show bitcoin-specific liquidations removed about $381 million in long exposure and roughly $111 million in short exposure. Traders experienced more than $1 billion in liquidations on four of the past five days, reflecting repeated forced selling linked to margin calls.

The episode followed a corporate sale of 32 bitcoins by Strategy. A commentator described the disposal as “murdering bitcoin,” which prompted public attention. Strategy’s executive chairman published an essay on X titled “Four Ideologies of Bitcoin,” describing four strands within the bitcoin community: maximalists, who emphasize bitcoin as a strong digital monetary network; capitalists, who support integrating bitcoin into corporate treasuries and institutional finance; technologists, who focus on protocol evolution for scalability, privacy and security; and fundamentalists, who prioritize decentralization, self-custody and running personal nodes. The essay calls for a balance between protecting the base protocol and allowing economic activity to develop around it.

Analysts tracking market flows noted high leverage at trading desks and concentrated bearish positions that can force margin calls and cascade liquidations. Exchange-level data and recurring large liquidations over several days showed elevated stress in leveraged markets.

Market participants are monitoring order books, margin levels and corporate treasury activity for further price moves. Trading volumes and open interest will be watched for signs of either renewed selling pressure or stabilization.