It was only when the tide went out that we discovered who was swimming naked. On August 13, the tide suddenly went out. Bitcoin dropped its last supports below $63,000, dragging down a good portion of open leveraged positions with its fall. Nothing spectacular on the scale of a bullish cycle, but enough to remind us that the market has still not digested its excess confidence. And while the queen of cryptocurrencies was losing ground, Wall Street was flaunting.
Bitcoin below $63,000: the mechanics of the fall
The scenario played out in several acts, with two round trips marked above then below $63,900 during the night. Some of this movement was concentrated in a very short window, according to internal market data, with the bulk of liquidations in long positions. Over the entire session, Bitcoin fell to $62,912 before regaining some ground and closing down just 0.5%, its capitalization still falling below $1,260 billion in the process.
In fact, cumulative liquidations across the entire crypto market reached $227 million that day, including $122 million on long positions and around $105 million on short positions. An almost perfect balance between optimists and pessimists taken from behind, a sign of a market that no longer really knows which foot to dance on. The fault, in part, is ETF flows: according to Farside Investors, American Bitcoin spot funds recorded around $61 million in net outflows on August 13, with IBIT and FBTC leading the redemptions. Ethereum ETFs still showed inflows, albeit modest ones.
227 million dollars liquidated: collateral damage, not an earthquake
Should we be alarmed? Not really. Compare this $227 million to the great purges of the derivatives market, which sometimes exceeded a billion dollars in a single day. Here, we remain within a reasonable range, almost banal for those who have been following the market for several years. Still, the timing is a question. The S&P 500 set a new record on August 13, proof that the appetite for risk has not disappeared among traditional investors. Bitcoin stands alone. The much-vaunted correlation between digital gold and equity indices crumbles a little more with each episode of this kind.
For several weeks now, the price has struggled to regain its key resistance levels, stuck between a hostile macroeconomic context and investor sentiment that changes mood almost every day. Some will see this as the price to pay for a market that is maturing and moving closer to the logic of classic finance. Others, more skeptical, will simply say that Bitcoin is still looking for its second wind.
A market under pressure, but not on its knees
The picture of the day therefore does not depict a capitulation. Rather, it shows fatigue, that of an asset that is struggling to convince at the precise moment when the stock markets are regaining color. The next few days will tell if the support at $62,500 holds or if the fuse is already lit towards a deeper test. In the meantime, traders too exposed to leverage have just received a harsh reminder: in this market, excess confidence is always paid for in cash, or rather in stablecoins liquidated by force.
This new episode of volatility is part of a broader sequence where the spot volume of Bitcoin itself is running out of steam, falling to its lowest level since 2019. Two symptoms of the same disease: a market which hesitates, between creeping institutionalization and short-term nervousness still intact.
