Bitcoin Pierces $90K Liquidity as Global Bond Rout Sparks Risk-Off Flush
BTC loses the $90,000 level as Trump’s tariff threats and a Japanese bond crisis force a $360M leverage washout.
The Leverage Flush
Bitcoin surrendered the psychological $90,000 fortress Tuesday, wicking to intraday lows of $89,800 as a macro “perfect storm” forced a $360 million liquidation cascade. The selloff was not isolated to crypto; it mirrored a violent deleveraging across global risk assets triggered by dual shocks: Japan’s sovereign debt instability and a renewed transatlantic trade war.
Prices collapsed in early European trading hours. The trigger? U.S. President Donald Trump’s ultimatum to impose 10% tariffs on eight European nations following a diplomatic standoff over Greenland. The move sent the Euro tumbling and ignited a flight to safety that bypassed digital assets entirely. While gold shattered records to hit $4,750, Bitcoin, often touted as a hedge, traded like a high-beta tech stock, shedding 4% in hours.
Yields Break the System
The liquidity drain is systemic. In Tokyo, the bond market effectively broke. Japan’s 40-year government bond yield spiked to a record 4% after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced a snap election and fiscal spending spree. The volatility forced the Bank of Japan to intervene, but the damage was done. Rising risk-free rates are strangling liquidity for speculative assets.
Yields will keep rising until something breaks. We are now seeing what ‘breaking’ looks like in the most liquid crypto pairings.
Death Cross Confirmation
Technical damage is mounting. Keith Alan, co-founder of Material Indicators, confirmed the formation of a rare weekly death cross, where the 21-week moving average crossed below the 50-week line. This structure, absent since the 2022 bear market depths, signals momentum exhaustion.
Solana (SOL) amplified the downside, piercing support to trade at $127.82 (-10% week-on-week). Traders are now eyeing the $86,000 level for Bitcoin, the 100-week simple moving average, as the last line of defense before a potential retest of the $70k handle. Despite the carnage, on-chain data shows long-term holders adding to positions, betting this macro shock is a liquidity hunt rather than a cycle ender.
