Bitcoin dropped below $84,000 on Wednesday, with the slide wiping out more than $500 million in crypto long positions. Cointelegraph reported that cumulative long liquidations over the past 24 hours reached $550 million.
The move came as market watchers focused on the appearance of leveraged BTC short positions on Hyperliquid shortly before the decline. Bitcoin fell as much as 2.3% across two hourly candles, briefly touching $83,560 before recovering to trade around $84,000 at the time of writing.
Hyperliquid short positions draw attention
TradingView data showed BTC/USD falling as much as 2.3% over two one-hour candles before circling back near the $84,000 mark.
Before the drop, ask liquidity thickened on exchange order books, which kept spot price from moving above $86,500 on Tuesday. CoinGlass data showed that total crypto long liquidations over the past 24 hours hit $550 million.
According to onchain data cited from Lookonchain and others, four wallets used USD Coin (USDC) to open 40x-leveraged short positions on 148.49 BTC on Hyperliquid just before the overnight downside move.
Once long positions were flushed, open interest across the 21 exchanges tracked by CoinGlass began climbing again. The report said that may indicate traders were willing to increase Bitcoin exposure at local lows. Open interest rose from about $54.2 billion to $55.3 billion over six hours between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. UTC.
Bitcoin holds nearby support
Even with Bitcoin down 1.8% on the day, the asset kept support at its 21-day simple moving average, now near $83,850. Cointelegraph had previously identified that level as an important line for bulls on lower time frames.
Below that trend line, $82,500 remains a decisive area for Bitcoin’s broader uptrend. The report said the level is also a key part of an inverse head-and-shoulders reversal pattern that is still developing on the weekly chart. Bitcoin last visited that area on Sept. 28.
$86,700 seen as the level for upside confirmation
In his latest market commentary, trader and analyst Rekt Capital said Bitcoin would need a daily close, or a three-day close, above $86,700 to keep the bullish setup intact.
He told his followers on X on Tuesday: 「At the moment, Bitcoin is lacking that lower timeframe confirmation relative to this key level for continuation.」