Bitcoin Near $64K as $27.9M in Leverage Liquidated, Gold Miners Slide 31%

Crypto News

Crypto markets absorbed a fresh wave of forced selling over the past 24 hours, with roughly $27.9 million in leveraged positions liquidated. Long positions accounted for about 60% of the total, near $10.09 million, while shorts made up the remaining 40%. Bitcoin-linked positions led the wipeout at $11.45 million, followed by Ethereum at $6.73 million and Solana at $2.27 million. Several altcoins, including HYPE and TAO, registered $4.54 million and $4.35 million in liquidations respectively. Derivatives data shows Binance concentrated the largest share of the damage. With Bitcoin trading near $64K, the cascade underscores how thin conviction has become across leveraged desks.

Safe-haven assets are behaving strangely. The NYSE gold miners index has fallen 31% since late February, even as the S&P 500 climbed 8% over the same stretch, an inversion that has confused investors conditioned to treat gold equities as a refuge during geopolitical stress. Shifting US-Iran tensions whipsawed mining shares repeatedly this week. Several asset managers are trimming gold exposure and rotating into power, copper and natural-gas names tied to AI data-center buildout. The shift matters for crypto because it signals capital is hunting yield and growth rather than crowding into traditional hedges, leaving digital assets to compete for the same flows.

In South Korea, financial regulators are preparing fresh curbs on jeonse rental loans extended to non-resident single homeowners, with an announcement possible as early as next month. Roughly 4.9 trillion won in loan balances tied to owners who hold apartments in regulated zones but live elsewhere has been flagged as a priority target, viewed as potentially speculative. Authorities are weighing tighter public-guarantee thresholds rather than mechanical lending caps. The move reflects a broader global pattern of regulators tightening credit channels, a backdrop that often pushes risk-tolerant capital toward alternative assets including crypto when traditional leverage routes narrow.

Energy costs remain a persistent inflation signal. Nationwide average pump prices in South Korea held just above the 2,000-won threshold, with gasoline at 2,009.62 won and diesel at 2,004.31 won per liter, leaving the gap between the two fuels at a narrow 5.31 won. Seoul posted the highest gasoline price at 2,051.88 won while Daegu recorded the lowest at 1,989.87 won, a regional spread of 62.01 won. With international product prices range-bound, the domestic market is expected to stay in a tight band. Sticky energy inflation keeps central-bank easing in question, a dynamic that weighs directly on risk-asset appetite.

New Zealand Energy Corp said it secured roughly $3.5 million through a non-brokered private placement to shore up liquidity while it works through a delayed annual filing. The company remains under a management cease-trade order from the British Columbia Securities Commission and now targets completing its 2025 disclosure before June 29, citing asset-impairment testing on its Tariki gas storage project and extended audit procedures. Operationally, the firm is expanding output, with the Tariki 1A well flowing near 3 million cubic feet per day. Management also granted 3.25 million stock options to align staff incentives with shareholders during the turnaround.

Investor psychology drew renewed attention as Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio’s maxim — that principle-based decisions beat emotion-based ones — circulated widely among traders. Dalio, who oversees more than $150 billion in assets, built his framework after nearly going bankrupt during the 1982 Mexican debt crisis, later popularizing the All Weather portfolio and radical open-mindedness. The reminder lands pointedly in a market gripped by fear, where impulsive leverage has just cost traders tens of millions. Disciplined, systematic allocation tends to outperform reactive trading, a lesson that resonates as volatility batters both equities and the digital-asset complex this week.

Taken together, these threads sketch a defensive global tape: forced crypto liquidations, gold equities behaving like risk assets, tightening credit in Korea and sticky energy inflation all point to investors prioritizing capital preservation. COINOTAG’s aggregate data confirms the caution — our Fear and Greed Index sits at 13, deep in Extreme Fear, while Bitcoin dominance has climbed to 70.4%, a classic flight-to-quality signal within crypto itself. Total market capitalization, weighted by each token’s circulating supply, stands near $1.83 trillion. With altcoins bleeding and capital concentrating in Bitcoin, the setup mirrors a defensive bear-market posture; whether the next leg resolves into a renewed bull market or a deeper retreat remains the open question.