Khaberni - The digital currency market experienced a notable decline as the price of Bitcoin dropped below the $90,000 level, before bouncing back later. The drop was described as a strong corrective movement that ended a brief upward wave recorded by the market at the beginning of this year.
The wave resulted in massive liquidations in the futures market exceeding $465 million within just 24 hours.
After the price of Bitcoin rose from about $87,500 to nearly $94,500 between January 1 and 5, the largest digital asset by market value fell again, affected by profit-taking and selling pressures, which quickly reflected on the overall cryptocurrency market, which moved in the same direction, according to the French newspaper "Journal du Coin" specializing in digital currencies.
As usual, Bitcoin led the downturn, pushing the majority of other digital currencies down, at a time when speculators in the futures market incurred significant losses, especially those who bet on the continuation of the rise using leverage.
According to data from the "Coin Glass" market tracking platform, the value of liquidations in the digital currency futures market exceeded $465 million over the past twenty-four hours.
The "long" buying positions were most affected, with their losses exceeding $420 million, compared to about $45 million only for the "short" selling positions.
The wave of liquidations affected approximately 134,000 traders, while a significant loss for one of the major wallets (known as "whales") amounted to about $3.63 million in a Bitcoin vs. dollar transaction on the "Hyper Liquid" platform, reflecting the high risks associated with trading using leverage during periods of sharp volatility.
Bitcoin speculators were the most affected, with liquidations of buying positions on the currency amounting to about $137 million, out of total liquidations exceeding $145 million during the 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Ethereum, the second-largest digital currency by market value, also saw significant liquidations, with speculators on buying positions losing more than $103 million, within total losses exceeding $113 million when accounting for selling positions.
Despite the severity of this downturn, some analysts believe that what happened is just a natural corrective movement after a rapid upward wave, especially in light of the significant rise recorded by the market at the beginning of 2026.
This view is reinforced by a return of the Bitcoin price, at the time of writing the report, to trading again above the $90,000 level.
Market optimists count on the increasing interest of institutional investors in the digital currency sector, considering that it could support prices in the medium term and limit sharp downturns.
However, the coming days will determine whether this decline is just a temporary pause in an upward trend, or an indicator of the return of cautious sentiment that dominated the markets at the end of 2025.
