Bitcoin fell below $84,000 on September 24, extending a reversal from this week’s eight-month high as traders locked in profits and a sharp rise in U.S. Treasury yields pressured risk assets.
Bitcoin traded around $83,900 during Asian hours, down more than 2% over 24 hours, after reaching nearly $87,300 earlier this week. The cryptocurrency had gained more than 13% over four days before the reversal, making profit-taking increasingly attractive after one of its strongest short-term advances this year.
The decline has also triggered a significant derivatives unwind. More than $545 million of leveraged crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours, including approximately $447 million of longs, as Bitcoin briefly reached $83,500 and Ether fell as low as $2,635.
$87,400 Rally Gives Way to Profit-Taking
Bitcoin’s reversal follows an unusually rapid recovery. BTC climbed from below $78,000 last week to an eight-month high of approximately $87,381, a gain of more than $10,000 in four days. The rally was initially supported by heavy U.S. spot ETF demand and a major short squeeze as bearish derivatives positions were forced to close.
U.S. Bitcoin ETFs attracted approximately $999 million on September 21 and another $714.7 million on September 22, providing substantial spot-market demand during the breakout.
But the speed of the rally also left the market vulnerable once traders began taking profits.
The $84,000-$85,000 region is particularly important because it had acted as a major resistance area before the breakout. Glassnode data identified the region as a significant long-term-holder supply zone, meaning investors who accumulated Bitcoin at those levels have another opportunity to exit around breakeven or realize profits.
Falling back below $84,000 therefore represents more than an arbitrary price move: Bitcoin is retesting the area it had only recently converted from resistance into support.
Treasury Yields Add Pressure as Longs Unwind
Macro conditions have amplified the profit-taking. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield climbed to 5.11% on Wednesday, rising roughly 15 basis points in a single session and reaching its highest level since 2007. Higher government-bond yields increase the relative attractiveness of risk-free assets and tend to tighten financial conditions for risk assets including cryptocurrencies.
The move followed stronger-than-expected U.S. economic activity data. September composite and services purchasing managers’ indexes reached 58.4 and 58.7, respectively, contributing to expectations that interest rates may remain elevated or rise further.
Crypto derivatives then magnified the spot decline.
CoinGlass data cited by market reports showed approximately $237 million of leveraged longs liquidated within a single hour as Bitcoin broke $84,000. Over the broader 24-hour period, 126,630 traders were liquidated, with longs accounting for about 82% of the $545 million total.
The weakness spread across major altcoins. Dogecoin fell roughly 7%-8%, while Zcash, XRP and Hyperliquid dropped between 5% and 6%. Ether, Solana and BNB were down approximately 2%-3%.
Bitcoin’s decline therefore appears to reflect several overlapping forces rather than a single catalyst: profit-taking after a 13% four-day rally, rapidly rising Treasury yields, renewed rate concerns and forced deleveraging.
The immediate test is whether the former breakout region around $84,000-$85,000 can be recovered. Holding materially below it would weaken the breakout that drove Bitcoin to its highest level since January, while a recovery would suggest the current move was primarily a leveraged reset following an unusually rapid rally.