Bitcoin’s wild Tuesday: From a 14-month low to a sharp rally triggers $740 million in liquidations

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Bitcoin’s wild Tuesday: From a 14-month low to a sharp rally triggers $740 million in liquidations

Bitcoin failing to bounce soon could set the stage for "one hell of a year," one analyst said.

By Krisztian Sandor|Edited by Aoyon Ashraf

Feb 3, 2026, 11:14 p.m.

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Bitcoin's wild few hours (CoinDesk data)

What to know:

• Bitcoin and ether rebounded after U.S. government shutdown was avoided and Nvidia CEO comments.
• The volatile action led to $740 million in crypto liquidations over 24 hours, largely from long positions, CoinGlass data shows.
• Bitcoin breaching the 2025 April lows could foreshadow a deeper pullback, but first, a countertrend rally is in the cards, one analyst said.

Bitcoin BTC$75,893.75 whiplashed on Tuesday, plunging to a 14-month low before rallying back above $76,000 as tech-sector turmoil sent markets spinning.

The largest cryptocurrency dropped to $72,900 during the early U.S. session — its weakest level since November 2024, when Donald Trump was elected. Then BTC has since rebounded 5% off the lows, climbing back to $76,800, before the advance faded again. Ethereum's ether ETH$2,244.25 bounced 10% from session lows to above $2,300 before giving back some of the gains, according to CoinDesk data.

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The rebound came as Congress reached a deal to end the partial government shutdown, which offered some near-term relief to markets.

Helping ease pressure on risk assets further was an appearance by Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang on CNBC, where he dismissed speculation about friction between the chipmaker and OpenAI. "There’s no controversy at all. It’s complete nonsense," Huang said, reaffirming Nvidia’s commitment to invest in OpenAI’s next fundraising round. His comments came amid growing concerns over the stability of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, a key driver of sentiment in the AI-fueled tech rally.

Still, the sharp drop in crypto left a trail of damage. Total liquidations across digital asset derivatives surged to $740 million over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass. Long positions, those betting on higher prices, bore the brunt of the wipeout with $287 million in BTC longs and $267 million in ETH longs being flushed.

Technical breach

Despite the rebound, bitcoin taking out the April 2025 "tariff tantrum" lows marked a key technical breakdown, raising the risk of a deeper correction.

Still, Benjamin Cowen, founder of Into The Cryptoverse analytics firm, said the overwhelming bearish sentiment might set the stage for a short-term countertrend rally. Historically, he noted, when bitcoin sweeps prior lows, it often triggers relief rallies.

He also warned that failure to bounce soon could make for "one hell of a midterm year," referring to bitcoin's past bear markets, such as 2022 and 2018, which also coincided with U.S. midterm elections.

"I feel like the bear narrative has been really strong for a while, and so I would expect a countertrend rally soon so that it gives the bulls some hope for a while," Cowen said in an X post.