Bitcoin Drops Below $77,000 as Broad Market Sell-off Erases $33 Billion
Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $77,000 on May 17, erasing $33.18 billion in market cap and triggering $551.68 million in long liquidations across the broader cryptocurrency market. The move broke a support level that had held since early May. Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE) all posted losses between 2% and 3.6% in the same period.
DeFi and SocialFi sectors were the only segments showing relative resilience during the decline.
What Happened on May 17
Bitcoin’s price touched $76,952 in early trading on May 18, down 1.25% against the U.S. dollar in the prior 24 hours. The cryptocurrency’s total market capitalization stood at approximately $1.54 trillion at that level.
The broader market move was more severe. Solana fell 3%, Dogecoin dropped 3.6%, and Ethereum slid 2%, according to data compiled by KuCoin.
On-chain data tracked by Blockchain News put long liquidations at $551.68 million, the largest single-session flush since April.
A large whale address contributed to selling pressure on the Bitcoin side. The address sold $15.46 million in wrapped Bitcoin, known as WBTC, a tokenized version of Bitcoin that trades on Ethereum-compatible networks.
That sale brought the wallet’s three-day total to $35.73 million in WBTC disposals. The address still held approximately $125 million in assets, mostly in Ethereum and other tokens.
A separate wallet linked to the crypto exchange BIT added a $254 million Ethereum long position after the dip, and that position carried an unrealized loss of $17.5 million by the time the data was captured.
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Background
Bitcoin’s price in May 2026 stood well below the highs it posted in late 2024 and early 2025, a period in which institutional inflows through spot exchange-traded funds drove sustained buying. The spot Bitcoin ETF market in the United States launched in January 2024 and drew tens of billions of dollars in net inflows over its first year.
By the first quarter of 2026, some of those positions were being trimmed. Jane Street, one of the largest market makers in ETF markets, cut its Bitcoin ETF holdings by roughly 70% in Q1 2026 and redirected $82 million into Ethereum ETF exposure, signaling a rotation rather than an exit from the asset class as a whole.
Bitcoin held near the $77,000 range in the days leading into the May 17 drop, consolidating after a prior support test that saw whale and retail divergence hit levels not seen since January 2024.
That divergence, in which large-wallet addresses reduced exposure while smaller wallets accumulated, often precedes short-term volatility.
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Technical Picture
Blockchain News flagged bearish signals on the four-hour chart at the time of Bitcoin’s drop through $77,000. The breach was notable because the $77,000 level had acted as a floor for much of early May 2026.
A failure to reclaim that level in the sessions following the drop would extend the pattern of lower highs that has characterized BTC price action since late 2024 peaks.
The liquidation cascade of $551 million in longs is significant in context. Long liquidations occur when leveraged traders who had bet on rising prices are forced to close positions, which creates additional selling pressure.
The cycle can accelerate moves lower quickly, particularly when the initial price drop is sharp enough to breach widely watched support levels.
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What to Watch
The key level for traders watching Bitcoin in the near term is the $77,000 mark. Reclaiming that level on a daily close would ease immediate bearish pressure.
A second close below it would raise the probability of a test toward the $74,000 to $75,000 range, which was a prior accumulation zone in early 2026. The Jeffrey Huang situation also drew attention this week.
The Taiwanese singer and cryptocurrency trader had a 25x leveraged Ethereum long position liquidated again, bringing his total reported losses past $32.4 million. Highly leveraged positions in a declining market can create feedback loops that prolong sell-offs beyond what fundamentals alone would justify.
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