Bitcoin’s price is in free fall as a cascade of liquidations hammer leveraged traders.
BTC has dropped from $74,300 to a low of $66,800 in the last 24 hours, triggering a whopping $1.42 billion in liquidations, according to CoinGlass.
Traders going long are suffering the most, recording $1.24 billion in liquidations.
Most of the liquidations hit Bitcoin traders, with $655 million in longs liquidated, followed by Ethereum at $262 million in longs liquidated.
Meanwhile, the debate on when the carnage might end continues.
The chief investment officer of digital asset manager Bitwise says he believes the crypto market may be closer to a rebound than many investors expect, arguing the current downturn began earlier than widely recognized and could be nearing its later stages.
Matt Hougan says the crypto market entered a “full-blown crypto winter” as early as January 2025, though heavy institutional inflows masked the downturn for major assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
He argues that crypto winters historically last around 13 months, citing previous cycles in 2018 and 2022, and suggested the current downturn may be further along than investors believe.
He said crypto winters typically end not with excitement but with widespread exhaustion and negative sentiment.
“Crypto winters typically last about 13 months. For instance, Bitcoin peaked in December 2017 and bottomed in December 2018. It peaked again in October 2021 and bottomed in November 2022.
By that measure, we’re in for a rough stretch. After all, Bitcoin peaked in October 2025. Should we go away until next November?
I don’t think so.
The more time I’ve spent analyzing the current “winter” the more I’ve realized it started back in January 2025. We just couldn’t see it because flows from ETFs and Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) obscured the picture.”
Hougan also points to ongoing regulatory progress, institutional adoption, stablecoin growth, and tokenization as underlying positives that could fuel a future rally once sentiment improves.
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