Why Is Bitcoin Price Going Down Today?

Bitcoin now trades near $62,500, down about 2.2% to 2.4% over the past 24 hours. The drop is slightly steeper than the broader crypto market, which fell around 2%.

Escalations between the US and Iran over the weekend pushed oil prices sharply higher, with Brent crude rising more than 3%. Higher oil prices raise fears of renewed inflation, which could push central banks to keep interest rates higher for longer. That kind of environment tends to hurt assets like Bitcoin that pay no yield, so traders sold it off alongside other risk assets.

Leverage made the drop worse

Once selling started, it snowballed. Roughly 67.45 million dollars in long Bitcoin positions got liquidated in a day, according to derivatives data, with the vast majority of those liquidations coming from traders betting on higher prices. When leveraged long positions get forced closed like this, it adds extra selling pressure on top of the original move, making the drop sharper than it might have been otherwise.

What to watch next

Bitcoin is currently testing an important technical level. A key support level near $61,376 comes from a Fibonacci retracement calculation, a chart tool traders use to spot likely turning points. If Bitcoin holds above that level, it could settle into a quieter, sideways trading range. A break below it opens the door to a slide toward the $60,000 mark.

The next major catalyst arrives Tuesday, when the US releases its Consumer Price Index report for July. A cooler than expected inflation reading could ease pressure on Bitcoin and help it stabilize. A hotter reading could push it through support and lower.

Despite the pullback, spot Bitcoin ETF flows have recently turned positive, a sign that some institutional demand is still present even as short term sentiment stays fearful.