Bitcoin Drops Below $77,000 as $486M in Leveraged Positions Were Liquidated

Bitcoin price fell below $77,000 after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh delivered a hawkish speech at Jackson Hole, warning that inflation remains too high. BTC dropped to $76,845, wiping out heavily leveraged positions and pushing total crypto liquidations to $486 million.

The sharp move came as traders worried that higher rates could keep pressure on risk assets.

Warsh Keeps Inflation Fight in Focus

During the speech, Kevin Warsh made it clear that inflation remains the Fed’s main concern. He pointed to PCE and CPI inflation, saying both are still above the Fed’s 2% target.

While recent inflation data was better than expected, Warsh said it was not enough to show that inflation is improving in a lasting way.

Warsh said, “They do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved.” 

He added that the Fed needs to be confident that inflation is moving toward its target. Otherwise, policymakers still have more work to do.

However, the comments pushed traders to rethink expectations for future interest rates, putting fresh pressure on Bitcoin and other risk assets.

Bitcoin Liquidations Reach $486M

This sharp Bitcoin move has also triggered heavy losses among leveraged traders.

According to coinglass data, around 95,731 traders were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with total liquidations reaching about $485.86 million. While the long traders accounted for roughly $368 million of the liquidations.

The largest single liquidation was an $11.66 million ETHUSDT position on Binance.

$81K Becomes Bitcoin’s Key Level

Despite the drop, Bitcoin’s next major move could depend on whether it can reclaim a key technical level.

Crypto analyst Ash Crypto highlighted the 50-week moving average near $81,000 as the most important resistance for Bitcoin at the moment.

According to the analysis, Bitcoin has already fallen around 54% during this cycle, although the decline is smaller than the major crashes seen in 2018 and 2022.

Some indicators are showing early signs of improvement. MACD, RSI, and Stoch RSI have all turned positive, suggesting buying momentum could be returning.

However, Bitcoin still needs to break and hold above $81,000 to confirm a stronger bullish trend.

Until then, traders remain cautious. If Bitcoin fails to recover and selling pressure increases, $75,000–$70,000 could become the next major support zone.