The BTC USD price dropped below $77,000 on May 18, extending a brutal four-day losing streak that caught leveraged bulls badly offside. The 24-hour damage: $677M in total liquidations, with $584M wiped from long positions alone. What happens next at this technical crossroads could define Bitcoin’s trajectory for the rest of May.
The sell-off pushed the Fear and Greed Index to 28, deep in fear territory, after it had sat at a neutral 50 just days prior. The brief optimism following the CLARITY Act’s Senate Banking Committee advance last Thursday evaporated fast.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs compounded the pressure, recording a $1.039Bn net outflow for the week of May 11–15, snapping six consecutive weeks of net inflows, per CoinGlass data.
Meanwhile, serial high-leverage trader Machi Big Brother and entrepreneur Jeffrey Huang were liquidated again during the flush, then immediately opened a fresh 25x-leveraged long on 1,825 ETH, worth approximately $3.87M, with a liquidation price set at $2,086.69. The broader market is now watching whether BTC’s key support levels hold or crack under continued institutional selling pressure.
The sudden market crash liquidated Machi(@machibigbrother) again!
Even after being liquidated, he is still going long on $ETH, opening a new 25x long on 1,825 $ETH($3.87M).
New liquidation price: $2,086.69https://t.co/3vBJSJUFZv pic.twitter.com/VYSTS8zWSh
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 18, 2026
Can BTC USD Price Recover Above $80,000 This Week?
Bitcoin is hovering between $76,000 and $77,000 at press time, pinned around a critical technical level: the 50-day EMA at $76,716. The 200-day EMA at $83,513 looms as significant overhead resistance — a long way up from here. The previous major support test came at $70,740 on April 12, 2026, a floor bulls will be watching if selling accelerates.
The short-term picture is fragile but not broken. Changelly places Bitcoin’s May minimum at $78,498.03 and its maximum at $84,616.70. Polymarket’s May contract shows the “over $80,000” outcome at 100% and “under $75,000” at 71%, suggesting traders still price in a meaningful chance of reclaiming the $80k handle before month-end.
Most people are expecting a bounce from the monthly open.
While that is definitely possible, there is still another scenario worth considering where price continues lower to sweep the previous low around $75k and clears a massive amount of liquidity resting below.… pic.twitter.com/rhVbPzyJh9
— Max Trades (@_ctm_crypto) May 18, 2026
Three scenarios worth watching:
- Bull case: BTC USD reclaims and holds the 50-day EMA at $76,716, clears $79,000–$80,000 resistance, and targets $83,000–$85,000 by late May.
- Base case: Consolidation between $76,000 and $80,000 as the market digests ETF outflows and flushes clean leverage.
- Bear/invalidation: A sustained close below $75,000 reopens the April 12 low at $70,740 as the next meaningful support.
The liquidation data does carry one silver lining, crowded longs have now been largely cleared out. Cleaner positioning often precedes sharper recoveries, provided macro conditions cooperate. Whether this flush was the reset or the beginning of something uglier remains the question.
DISCOVER: 99Bitcoin’s Readers – Earn $10 USDC When You Sign Up for Binance
LiquidChain Targets Early Mover Upside as Bitcoin Tests Key Levels
Volatility of this magnitude, $657M gone in 24 hours, institutional ETF outflows breaching a billion dollars in a week, has a way of reminding investors why diversification across crypto’s risk spectrum matters. Large-cap recovery plays have compressed upside at current market caps; the asymmetric bets tend to sit earlier in the lifecycle. (Not a comfortable truth, but a real one.)
LiquidChain ($LIQUID) is a Layer 3 infrastructure project currently in presale at $0.0146 per token, with more than $771K raised to date. The project’s core pitch is structural: it fuses Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana liquidity into a single execution environment, which it calls a Unified Liquidity Layer, so developers deploy once and access all three ecosystems simultaneously.
Given how fragmented cross-chain infrastructure remains, that’s a real problem that needs to be addressed. Key features include Single-Step Execution, Verifiable Settlement, and a Deploy-Once Architecture designed to eliminate the multi-bridge friction that currently plagues DeFi developers.
Presale-stage projects carry significant risk: no liquidity guarantees, execution uncertainty, and token price volatility post-launch. As always, position sizing matters. For those researching early-stage infrastructure plays alongside a Bitcoin recovery setup, the full LiquidChain breakdown is worth reading first. To explore the presale directly,
Visit the LiquidChain Presale Website Here.
EXPLORE: Best Crypto Presales With Staking Rewards
Follow 99Bitcoins on X, YouTube, and Telegram for more crypto news and analysis.
Why you can trust 99Bitcoins
Established in 2013, 99Bitcoin’s team members have been crypto experts since Bitcoin’s Early days.
Weekly Research
100k+Monthly readers
Expert contributors
2000+Crypto Projects Reviewed
