Bitcoin’s price tumbled toward $84,000 on Thursday, triggering over $650 million in long position liquidations. The drop followed a failure to hold key support near the mid-$90,000 range, flipping the technical structure bearish. A concurrent decline in the network’s hashrate adds further pressure, though historical data suggests such pullbacks have preceded stabilization.
Bitcoin experienced a sharp reversal during U.S. morning trading on Thursday, sliding quickly toward the $84,000 level. The price drop led to the settlement of many long positions, with more than $650 million liquidated according to CoinGlass data from January 29.
This marked the second-largest liquidation event in the past month. The decline accelerated once the $85,000 level was broken, triggering stop losses and margin calls.
Technically, Bitcoin’s price movement recently altered after months of forming higher lows. It consistently failed around the $94,000 to $96,000 area, which acted as a ceiling in January.
The former support level then became a new resistance level. Breaking below the final defense area in the low $90,000s indicated seller control, with targets now pointing to demand zones near $80,000 and $75,000.
Beyond price charts, network data indicated stress as Bitcoin’s hashrate decreased in January. An X post from Lark Davis on January 29 cited several reasons, including the diversion of mining power to artificial intelligence tasks and weather-related shutdowns.
However, Bitcoin’s mechanism allows mining difficulty to adjust under such conditions. In previous cycles, large hashrate decreases during stressful periods were seen near local price lows.
