Daily Crypto Roundup: Bitcoin Crashes to $58K as $1.48B Gets Liquidated — Short Squeeze Next?

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Welcome back to the Daily Crypto Roundup. Today's crypto market has been hit by one of the sharpest fear waves we've seen in a long time, and the headline number is simple. Bitcoin has broken below $60,000, touched the $58,000 region, and dragged the wider market with it. But here's the important part. This is not just another normal red day. This is a market being hit from multiple directions at once. We've got inflation fears coming back. We've got traders being liquidated. We've got options expiry pressure. We've got strategy shares under serious stress. And at the same time, we've got some analysts saying Bitcoin may actually be getting close to a major inflection point. So today's roundup is about one question. Is this the start of a much deeper crash? Or is the market setting up one of those brutal bear trap reversals where everyone gets too negative right before Bitcoin snaps back?
Before we get into it, remember this show is sponsored by Kraken. If you are trading crypto and you want to support Crypto News Today, signing up through our Kraken partner link is one of the best ways to do it. We are also giving away 20 XRP to listeners who sign up and get involved. It helps keep the show going, but as always, nothing in this episode is financial advice. Do your own research, manage your risk, and never invest money you cannot afford to lose. Now, let's start with the market board. Bitcoin dropped below $60,000 and hit an intraday low around $58,188 before recovering slightly back toward the $59,000 area. Ethereum was trading around $1,560 after dropping nearly 5%.
XRP was around $1.03 after falling close to 4%.
Solana was near $66.
BNB was around $553.
The wider crypto market cap fell to roughly $2.13 trillion.
And the damage in derivatives was even bigger. According to the liquidation data, more than 217,000 traders were wiped out over the past 24 hours, with total liquidations reaching about $1.48 billion.
Long traders took the worst of it, with roughly $1.21 billion in long positions liquidated. Bitcoin alone accounted for around $665 million of the total, followed by Ethereum at around $359 million and XRP at about $50 million.
That tells you this was not just a price move. This was forced selling. This was leverage being flushed out of the system. And when leverage gets flushed out, the moves can become exaggerated very quickly.
Traders who thought Bitcoin would hold $60,000 were forced out. Stop losses were triggered. Liquidations cascaded. And once Bitcoin broke that psychological level, panic spread across the rest of the market. The macro reason behind this is inflation. Fresh United States PCE inflation data has reinforced fears that interest rates could stay higher for longer.
The Personal Consumption Expenditure's price index rose 4.1% year over year in May, up from 3.8% in April. Core PCE also remained high, and even though some readings came in slightly below expectations, inflation is still running well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. That matters for crypto because Bitcoin and altcoins still trade like risk assets when macro pressure rises. If investors believe rates are going higher or staying high for longer, they become less willing to take risk. That hits technology stocks, speculative growth assets and crypto. And that is exactly what we are seeing. The market is also dealing with one of the biggest Bitcoin options expiries of the year. Around $9.33 billion in Bitcoin options are due to expire, with a huge amount of call-open interest sitting between $75,000 and $90,000.
The max pain level is around $72,000, which is well above where Bitcoin is currently trading. That creates a messy setup. Options traders may be forced to adjust hedges, and that can increase short-term volatility. In plain English, it means the market could stay very jumpy over the next few days. But here's where it gets interesting. Even though the price action looks horrible, Coindesk reported that derivatives and order book data are now showing signs of an overcrowded short trade. In other words, too many traders may now be betting on more downside. Bitcoin dropped fast, but open interest has risen while price has fallen. Funding rates are negative. That suggests traders are not just exiting positions. Many are actively piling into shorts, expecting Bitcoin to break lower again. That can be dangerous. When too many people are on the same side of the trade, the market can move against them violently. If Bitcoin starts pushing back above key levels, short sellers may be forced to close positions. That means they have to buy Bitcoin back, which can drive the price even higher. That is the classic short squeeze setup. Coindesk also pointed to order book data showing stronger bid support below the market than sell orders above it. That does not guarantee a bounce, but it does mean the market may not be as one-sided as the fear makes it look. So we now have two competing forces. On one side, the trend is clearly weak. Bitcoin has broken $60,000.