Traders Push Bitcoin Below $76,000 as $43M Long Liquidations Trigger Slide

Key Takeaways:

• Bitcoin dropped 0.7% to $76,200 on April 28 as markets shifted focus away from Middle East geopolitical risks.
• The Bitunix analysis shows that $43 million in long positions were liquidated as Bitcoin’s market cap fell.
• Bitunix analysts expect bitcoin to trade within a bi-directional range of $76,000 to $80,000 based on current leverage.

Bitcoin Slides Below $76K

Bitcoin declined again on Tuesday, April 28, this time dipping below $76,000 as global markets struggled to find direction amid a hiatus on the geopolitical front. As shown by 24-hour market data, bitcoin initially rallied, rising to an intraday peak of $77,474 before embarking on a downward slide that completely erased early gains.

The sell-off continued, and by 10:39 a.m. EDT, the top cryptocurrency had tumbled to $75,657, its lowest point since April 22. After reaching this intraday low, a relief rally saw bitcoin reclaim the $76,000 threshold; however, this was not enough to reverse the losses, and it closed the 24-hour period down 0.7%. At the time of writing (2:30 p.m. EDT), bitcoin was trading around $76,200.

Bitcoin’s marginal retreat also saw its market capitalization decline to $1.52 trillion, down from the $1.54 trillion observed 24 hours earlier. The decline resulted in a sharp drop in the value of liquidated leveraged positions. Market data show that nearly $43 million in long bets were liquidated in a 24-hour window, versus $8 million in shorts. In contrast, $110 million in long bets alone were liquidated on Monday.

With the Middle East conflict locked in a fragile stalemate over the past 48 hours, Tuesday’s narrative pivoted toward the broader arena of global policy divergence and the accelerating repricing of liquidity, underscoring how geopolitical inertia is now feeding directly into market recalibration. For a Bitunix analyst, this backdrop partly explains why bitcoin failed to sustain the upside momentum that saw it tap $79,490 early Monday.

“After approaching the $80,000 level, the price has rotated lower, shifting into a long liquidation phase. Liquidation heatmaps show a renewed concentration of long-side liquidation risk in the 76,000–77,000 zone, while the 78,500–80,000 range above continues to act as a short-side pressure and liquidity cluster,” the Bitunix analyst said.

According to the analyst, this creates a classic bi-directional inducement structure, where leveraged positioning incentivizes both upside and downside moves.

Meanwhile, the analyst asserts that in this phase, bitcoin is no longer primarily reflecting safe-haven demand. Instead, it is operating as a function of liquidity conditions and leverage structure, with price action dominated by tactical positioning rather than structural flows.