$612M Liquidated, Longs Rekt: $BTC's Leverage Hangover Hits a 56% STH Drawdown 🥴

Bitcoin [BTC] saw $169.28 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, with the majority coming from long positions, according to liquidation data. Across the broader market, $612.04 million was liquidated in the same window, $548.72 million of which were bullish bets. The single-day total marked the largest liquidation event since the June 4 sell-off that pushed BTC toward $60,000.

Glassnode noted that traders on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid have continued to increase long exposure even as price trends turned bearish in recent weeks. Aggressive long positioning against a falling price created an amplified risk of a squeeze that would force long liquidations. Separately, AMBCrypto reported that rising leverage combined with weak spot demand could set up another liquidation event in the coming weeks, warning that dip buying could be punished if derivatives positioning grows more bullish while spot demand stays soft.

On-chain metrics added to the cautious picture. Crypto analyst CW8900 observed on X that BTC's supply in profit had fallen below a rising trendline plotted from 2012, a level last seen in prior cycle stress events. Analyst Axel Adler Jr. pointed to the adjusted NUPL metric, which has spent most of the last three months below zero, with a current reading of -0.14, still far from the -0.4 capitulation extremes of previous cycles. The short-term holder realized cap drawdown deepened to 56%, up from -26% three months ago, while the long-term holder realized cap drawdown sat near zero, indicating that unrealized losses and capital outflows have been concentrated among newer market participants rather than long-term holders.