Leveraged long positions in the bitcoin (BTC) futures market worth $41.5 million were liquidated on Monday, the second largest daily for long liquidations so far this month, as per CoinGlass.com.
The spike in long liquidations came as bitcoin fell nearly 3.5% to fresh one-month lows under $29,000.
The spot price was last just above $29,000, with crypto investors/traders locking in profits after this year’s impressive performance amid a lack of fresh positive catalysts to drive further gains in the bitcoin market.
Caution ahead of this week’s (on Wednesday) and US Core PCE inflation (on Friday) could also be playing a role in the downside, as could fresh , the world’s largest exchange.
As per , a further wave of long-positions would be wiped out if fell under $28,500.
As per CoinGlass.com’s graphic, leverages long positions worth nearly $500 million are at risk of being stopped out before BTC hits $28,400.
But the bears shouldn’t get too excited, as if was to suddenly rise back into the mid-$29,000s, this could trigger a short-squeeze, with leveraged short-positions worth over $600 million at risk of being stopped out if the BTC price was to rise back to $29,600.
Here’s Where Bitcoin (BTC) Could Go Next
Despite bitcoin’s slip-up on Monday, investors remain optimistic about the cryptocurrency’s near-term trajectory.
At least, that’s the takeaway from looking at how options markets are priced.
The 25% delta skew of bitcoin options expiring in seven days was last around 1.25, as per data presented by , suggesting that investors are still paying a premium for bullish call options expiring in seven days versus their equivalent bearish put option counterparts.
The 25% delta skew of options expiring in 30, 60, 90 and 180 days, meanwhile, are all sat at even higher levels between 2 and 6, suggesting that options investors remain confident that bitcoin’s near-term trajectory remains broadly to the upside.
That view marries well with bitcoin’s technical outlook, which remains broadly positive.
While the BTC price is at risk of slipping under its 50-Day Moving Average just above $29,000 this week, which would open the door to a test of support in the $28,500 area in the form of the late-May highs and 100DMA, bitcoin is approaching a strong long-term resistance level.
That’s the uptrend that began in late-2022 and has consistently supported the price action thus far this year.
With this week’s Fed meeting unlikely to push back too much against bets that this week’s hike will be the last of the cycle from the central bank, and with bitcoin still benefitting from the tailwind of increased institutional interest in wake of last month’s spate of spot bitcoin ETF applications from Wall Street heavyweights, the argument for a breakout below this year’s uptrend isn’t too strong right now.
Any dip to the mid-$28,000s is likely to be viewed as a nice dip buying opportunity by many longer-term bitcoin bulls.