Bitcoin Falls Below $73,000 as Market Cools and Selling-Pressure Signals Mount

Bitcoin is highly sensitive to interest rates and risk appetite. Conflict in the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz crisis have driven up oil prices and inflation concerns, while rising U.S. Treasury yields have pushed capital toward safe-haven assets such as the dollar. The latest decline has also affected liquidity across the broader cryptocurrency market.

As of July 19, Bitcoin had fallen about 3% over 24 hours, dropping below $67,000 and touching a two-week low. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield approached 4.5%, near a one-year high, while about $300 million in long positions were liquidated. Core Scientific separately sold $175 million worth of Bitcoin and plans to redirect the proceeds into AI data centers and high-performance computing operations.

Bitcoin has recently faced the dual pressures of spot-market selling and an escalation in the US-Iran military conflict, with Brent crude briefly rising to $95 a barrel. US spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded $3.46 billion in net outflows since May 13, signaling capital flight from the crypto market and increasing the risk of cascading liquidations of leveraged positions.

On June 1, Bitcoin fell below $71,000 for the first time in seven weeks, liquidating about $276 million in leveraged long positions. However, the long-to-short ratio among Binance whales rose to 1.4 from 1.1 a week earlier, while the ratio on OKX climbed to 1.9 on Monday. Futures open interest across major exchanges held at $43.5 billion, suggesting professional traders were adding bullish positions on the dip, although a rebound still depends on an easing of spot-market selling pressure.

Bitcoin is widely viewed as a gauge of global risk appetite, while the area around $77,000 also overlaps with the cost basis of short-term holders. Whether it can sustain a breakout has implications for spot ETFs, derivatives and onchain positioning. Checkonchain said more than 15% of the circulating supply was acquired between $74,000 and $83,000, making pullback risk a particular concern around this dense zone of underwater holdings.

Bitcoin briefly approached $77,500 on May 1. Open interest in Deribit put options with a $76,000 strike and a June 26 expiry rose 22.5%. Santiment data also showed that more than $770 million in BTC flowed onto exchanges during the previous week. By May 25, weekly net inflows stood at about 18,000 BTC, leaving the rebound exposed to potential selling pressure.

The 11 U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs have become an important gateway for institutional capital entering the crypto market, and their flows are also viewed as an indicator of price support. ETF redemptions, aggressive selling in spot and futures markets, and demand for options hedges are now rising in tandem, suggesting the correction may be more than a pullback after a rally.

Bitcoin fell about 6% from $82,000 to $76,800 and dropped below $77,000 again on May 22. SoSoValue data showed that the 11 ETFs had recorded more than $1.5 billion in outflows since May 7, including $648 million on May 18 alone. Glassnode said spot cumulative volume delta, or CVD, had fallen to negative $126.2 million, with key support at $74,000–$76,000.

Bitcoin has rebounded 17% after falling below $60,000, indicating stronger buying support at lower levels. Glassnode's on-chain data and demand in derivatives markets both point to a gradual return of buyers, but the broader price structure remains in a downtrend. That makes $78,000 a crucial threshold for determining whether bulls can genuinely turn the market around.

As of April 22, the market was focused on the $78,000–$79,200 resistance zone. Glassnode said BTC must reclaim its moving average at about $78,300 and that consolidation could continue for several weeks. Analysts said a break above $78,000 could confirm a reversal, though $79,200 could still serve either as a launchpad for further gains or as renewed resistance.

Bitcoin is highly sensitive to interest rates and dollar liquidity. When US Treasury yields rise, non-yielding assets become relatively less attractive to hold. The latest decline coincided with losses in stocks and gold, reflecting traders’ reassessment of the Federal Reserve’s rate-hike path amid inflation concerns. The move was therefore not confined to the crypto market.

Around May 15, Bitcoin fell about 3% in a single day, breaking below $79,000 and touching $78,000 before sliding below $77,000 to a low of about $76,000. Liquidations of bullish crypto positions reached $500 million, while SOL and XRP each dropped about 5%. US Treasury yields neared 20-year highs, although Bitcoin’s implied volatility remained low.

Bitcoin entered a correction after hitting an all-time high of $126,200 on Oct. 6, 2025, and briefly fell to a 15-month low in early February 2026, marking a maximum drawdown of about 53%. Glassnode data has yet to show a clear reversal signal. Rekt Capital said the current bear market has lasted only about 140 days, shorter than the briefest historical cycle of 365 days.

Bitcoin rebounded to as high as $70,040 on Feb. 25 but failed to hold above the 200-week exponential moving average, or EMA, and its 2021 peak. It fell more than 1% intraday after U.S. stocks opened on Feb. 26, putting $67,000 back in focus. TradingView data showed the price had slipped below the key zone again. Rekt Capital said the 200-week EMA had turned into resistance, leaving Bitcoin at risk of further declines until it breaks above that level.

Bitcoin retreated after reaching a high of about $126,000 in October 2025 and traded between $60,000 and $70,000 from February 2026. Glassnode uses UTXO Realized Price Distribution, or URPD, to track the price at which BTC last moved on-chain and gauge investors’ cost bases. Areas with concentrated holdings often provide support, but do not guarantee that prices will stop falling.

Glassnode data showed that, as of March 10, 2026, BTC held within that price range had risen from about 997,000 coins on January 1 to 1.558 million, an increase of nearly 600,000 BTC worth about $42.48 billion and representing nearly 8% of circulating supply. An April 8 update put the total at 1.846 million BTC, up 844,000 since the start of the year and accounting for 9.23% of circulating supply.

The $70,000 level is an important psychological threshold for gauging bullish and bearish momentum in Bitcoin. Onchain analysis classifies investors who have held the cryptocurrency for shorter periods as short-term holders (STHs). When these investors take profits at higher prices, they often intensify selling in both spot and perpetual futures markets, making it harder for Bitcoin to hold elevated levels.

As of March 6, Bitcoin had fallen 5% in two days and slipped below $70,000 again. Market data showed selling briefly reached $20 million per hour when the price was above $70,000, while cumulative volume delta (CVD) in spot and perpetual futures markets turned negative. Santiment separately said retail investors were adding to their positions below $70,000, suggesting the pullback may not be over.

The realized profit/loss ratio measures profits and losses on Bitcoin sold on-chain. A drop in its 90-day moving average below 1 indicates that traders as a whole have begun selling at a loss. On-chain analytics firm Glassnode said similar phases in the past lasted at least six months. Bitcoin fell more than 50% over five months after the signal appeared in 2018 and declined another 25% over six months following the 2022 signal, making it a warning that a bear market may be deepening.

Bitcoin’s 90-day moving average for the realized profit/loss ratio fell below 1 on February 23, 2026, for the first time since 2022. Citing Glassnode data on February 24, Cointelegraph said loss-selling could persist for at least another five months if history repeats. MVRV pricing bands put February’s extreme low at about $43,760, which could become a downside target as soon as August and falls within analysts’ estimated range of $40,000 to $50,000.