Bitcoin Dips to $81,000 and Rebounds as Liquidations Hit $771M
BTC slid to $81,034 overnight as Korea's Kospi sank 6%, wiping out $686M in long positions, then climbed back above $83,500 within hours.
Bitcoin slid to $81,034 on Binance late Monday, Oct. 12 — the low came between 8 PM and 9 PM ET — about 3.9% below the day's high of $84,352. The drop coincided with a rout in South Korean stocks and set off a wave of forced selling: crypto exchanges liquidated $771 million in positions over 24 hours, $685.6 million of them longs, according to CoinGlass data cited by The Block. Buyers stepped in quickly, and by 1:15 AM ET on Tuesday BTC traded near $83,700, 3.3% above the overnight low.
Details
Most of the damage came in the final 12 hours: $631.8 million in liquidations, $600 million of them longs. Altcoins fell harder than bitcoin. The Block reported ether down 4.6% at $2,425, Solana down 7.5%, XRP down 6.4% and Zcash down 10.4%. The outlet also noted that public liquidation data can significantly understate the real total.
The trigger came from Asia. Korea's Kospi fell more than 6% on Tuesday morning, dropping below 6,000 for the first time since late July, while Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each lost about 8%, CoinDesk reported. Nasdaq futures slipped 0.6% after a 0.78% drop in the index on Monday. Min Jung of Presto Research tied the Korean selloff to weakness in U.S. tech shares, especially chip and memory names, which tripped a sell-side circuit breaker in Seoul.
Macro pressure added to the mix. WTI crude held near $92.70 and Brent around $106 amid threats to Middle East supply, and the dollar index sat near 102.50, its highest since April last year. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs lost $681.1 million last week, their worst week since late June per SoSoValue, while spot ether ETFs shed $542 million.
What it means for the market
The overnight move looks like a classic leverage flush: long positions had piled up, and a 2–3% dip during thin overnight hours triggered a chain of forced sales. CoinDesk framed the quick return above $83,000 — while the Kospi stayed deep in the red — as bitcoin decoupling from Asian equities. For a primer on how liquidations amplify price swings, see our explainer.
The week's main event is still ahead: U.S. CPI data on Thursday, Oct. 15. High oil prices and a strong dollar raise the risk of tighter Fed policy, and Polymarket traders put the odds of a rate hike at the Oct. 27–28 meeting near 20%. Ahead of the print, Paul Howard, senior director at Wincent, told CoinDesk he expects institutional investors to focus on adding protection. Live bitcoin price and funding rates are on our daily dashboard.
