Bitcoin Breaks $68,000 Support, Traders Bet on Slide to Low-$60,000s

More than $1 billion in crypto positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, erasing roughly $980 million in bullish leveraged bets as bitcoin’s selloff accelerated.

Bitcoin dropped below $68,000 during U.S. morning trading on Thursday, extending a week-long decline that has mirrored broader weakness across global risk assets. The move followed an earlier slide beneath $70,000, a level closely watched by traders for its role in anchoring near-term market structure.

Market data points to limited support just below current prices. Liquidity heatmaps from Coinglass show order density thinning rapidly beneath the $70,000 mark, with only smaller clusters appearing lower down. This setup increases the risk of a faster decline into the high $60,000s, as fewer forced buy orders remain to cushion the move once key levels give way.

Liquidation heatmaps illustrate where leveraged traders are most likely to be forced out, with bright bands indicating dense clusters of potential liquidations. These zones often attract short-term price action and volatility, serving as indicators of crowded positioning rather than precise inflection points.

Broader macro pressures have added to the downside. A renewed slide in silver prices and widespread deleveraging across macro trades have reinforced a risk-off stance, with crypto increasingly moving in tandem with other liquidity-sensitive assets.

Focus is now shifting toward lower potential support zones. The $60,000 area has emerged as a level of interest for some market participants. As previously reported by CoinDesk, bitcoin’s 200-week moving average — a level that has historically marked cycle lows — is currently near $57,926.

Prediction markets are also reflecting a more cautious outlook. On Polymarket, contracts tied to bitcoin’s 2026 price outcomes now lean toward lower levels, with traders assigning the highest probability to prices at or below $65,000. Expectations for six-figure bitcoin prices have faded sharply since January, while odds of a drawdown into the mid-$50,000s have climbed.

Flow data reinforces the defensive tone. U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs have posted net outflows this week, and trading activity in perpetual futures has thinned as leverage is scaled back.

Despite the selloff, some traders continue to view the $68,000 to $70,000 zone as a key technical region, citing heavy historical trading volume and long-term holder cost bases clustered in that range. A sustained break below it, however, could open the door to a deeper consolidation phase, echoing pullbacks seen after prior major rallies.