Bitcoin closed the week below its 50-week average for the first time in eight weeks; crypto liquidations exceeded $1.15 billion in 24 hours.
Bitcoin closed the week below its 50-week moving average on Sunday for the first time in eight weeks. The price briefly fell below $74,000 on Monday morning, while Galaxy head of research Alex Thorn said Bitcoin must reclaim this average within a month for his bullish technical outlook to remain valid.
According to CoinGlass data, total positions liquidated over 24 hours exceeded $1.15 billion. Of that, $1.04 billion came from long positions, while $117 million came from short positions. Liquidations in Ethereum trades exceeded $500 million, while approximately $309 million in Bitcoin positions were liquidated; 167,764 traders were liquidated in total.
What happened when Bitcoin lost its 50-week average in the past?
Thorn said Bitcoin closed the week 0.7% below the average at $75,488. Bitcoin had risen above this level on September 20 and remained above the average for seven weeks until Sunday’s close.
During the 2011–2012 bear-market recovery examined by Thorn, Bitcoin failed to reclaim the average for 20 weeks after falling below it, and dropped as much as 35% below the average. In the 2019–2020 period, the average was lost five times; during the Covid crash, Bitcoin remained below the level for eight weeks. According to Thorn, previous bear-market lows held on a weekly closing basis in both periods.
Thorn also noted that his comparison covers only the period in which the average was reclaimed five times, and that a market bottom can only be identified in hindsight. Bitcoin’s previous low in the current cycle was $59,517 on June 28. Galaxy argued last month that the bear market had ended.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs also ended last week with $1.28 billion in net outflows, the largest weekly outflow since the end of June. The funds saw net outflows on four of the five trading days that week, while total net outflows since the start of 2026 reached $914.1 million.
Not investment advice.