Bitcoin slid about $1,750 in just 20 minutes, dropping to the $84,000 level.

On Oct. 7 (local time), blockchain media outlet The Defiant reported that bitcoin fell about 2% on the day, from $85,317.95 to $83,551. It later pared some losses to regain the $84,000 level, holding on to a 0.8% gain over the past week.

At the time, Coinbase showed a 24-hour trading range of $83,551 to $86,698. On Kraken, the 24-hour low was tallied at $83,555, also dipping below the $84,000 level.

The sharp drop pushed bitcoin close to the lower end of its recent weekly trading range. According to Coinbase daily data from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, bitcoin traded between $82,912 and $87,249 during the period.

In the derivatives market, liquidations of long positions that bet on gains stood out. Coinalyze, a cryptocurrency data analytics platform, showed $83 million in bitcoin long-position liquidations over the past 24 hours, 10 times the $8.4 million in short-position liquidations.

However, the figures represent the 24-hour cumulative liquidation amount for bitcoin contracts tracked by Coinalyze. They do not indicate liquidations during the 20-minute plunge or the scale of liquidations across the entire cryptocurrency market. Binance liquidation data are also incomplete, limiting estimates.

Forced liquidations can amplify price declines. When collateral value drops below maintenance requirements, positions are forcibly closed, and the liquidation of long positions can generate additional sell orders. But that structure alone cannot explain the direct cause of the latest plunge.

Even as liquidations continued, open interest increased. Coinalyze data showed bitcoin derivatives open interest at $27.9 billion, up about 1% over the past 24 hours. The overall size of open interest expanded despite long-position liquidations.

In this downswing, a spot-market low and the scale of derivatives-market liquidations were confirmed at the same time. With the price plunge and the clearing of long positions overlapping, it showed where market shock was concentrated.