Bitcoin Drops to $81.3K, Triggers 273,244 Liquidations in 24 Hours

A sharp Bitcoin sell-off has sparked a brutal wipeout in the crypto derivatives market, forcing exchanges to close out leveraged positions at scale. On January 30, 2026, Bitcoin slid to the low-$81,000s, with reports putting the dip around $81.3K, as liquidation data showed 273,244 traders were liquidated in a 24-hour window.

What the market data shows

At the deepest point of the move, Bitcoin’s intraday low was around $81,169, before attempting a rebound.
Liquidation trackers cited in the report pegged total liquidations at roughly $1.7 billion over 24 hours, underlining how quickly forced selling can snowball once price breaks key levels.

Key figures (snapshot)

Why so many traders got wiped out

This kind of “mass liquidation” is mostly a leverage problem, not just a price problem. In futures and perpetual markets, traders borrow exposure. When price moves against them and their margin can’t cover losses, exchanges automatically close those positions, turning the decline into a chain reaction of forced selling.

That liquidation cascade can be especially aggressive during fast risk-off moves, because each forced close adds more sell pressure, dragging price lower and triggering more liquidations.

What likely pushed Bitcoin down

Reports around the drop pointed to a broader risk-off mood across markets and the way crypto tends to fall hardest when traders are quickly reducing exposure. Bloomberg reported that Bitcoin’s earlier slide below the mid-$80,000s wiped out more than $1 billion in leveraged positions, reflecting how leveraged bets were getting hit across the board.