Bitcoin's price correction deepened on Wednesday, sliding below $73,000 and putting the crucial $75,000 support level at risk. Analysts are now eyeing $66,000 as the next major downside target if current support fails. The sell-off has been exacerbated by significant capital flight from U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which have recorded a staggering $2.9 billion in net outflows over twelve consecutive trading days, averaging $243 million daily since January 16.
This ETF exodus coincides with a massive purge of leveraged positions across the crypto market. Data from CoinGlass shows over $6 billion in positions have been liquidated in recent days, including a single-session hit of $2.4 billion in long contracts on January 30. The correction, which has seen Bitcoin fall 26% from its January 14 peak near $98,000, has effectively wiped out any leveraged long futures positions exceeding 4x unless additional margin was posted.
Market sentiment has been further rattled by a broader tech stock sell-off, mirrored by a decline in the Nasdaq Index. This was triggered by a weak sales outlook from chipmaker AMD, despite the company beating Q4 earnings estimates, and disappointing U.S. employment data. The fear is that increased competition in the AI chip sector from companies like Google and AMD could pressure the tech sector, indirectly affecting crypto markets.
Professional traders are hedging for further declines, as indicated by the BTC options 25% delta skew metric reaching 13% on Wednesday—well above the 6% neutral threshold. This signals strong demand for downside protection and a lack of conviction that the recent low of $72,100 marks a market bottom.
Some analysts point to the lingering structural impact of the $19 billion liquidation event on October 10, 2025, which was triggered by a performance glitch at Binance. Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly, explained that the incident wiped out market makers who have yet to fully recover, highlighting that crypto exchange liquidation mechanisms "are not designed to be self-stabilizing" like traditional finance circuit breakers.
Amid the turmoil, unfounded rumors regarding a $9 billion Bitcoin sale by a Galaxy Digital customer (attributed to quantum computing fears) and concerns over Binance's solvency have circulated, though both have been denied by the involved parties. Onchain metrics suggest Bitcoin deposits at Binance remain stable.
With futures open interest climbing even as prices fall—indicating increasing bearish bets—and macroeconomic uncertainty causing many traders to exit crypto markets, the path forward for Bitcoin remains highly contingent on whether the heavy ETF outflows subside and if the $75,000 support level holds.
