Bitcoin dropped below $77,000 within minutes, triggering about $100 million worth of long-position liquidations at once.

Cryptopolitan, a blockchain media outlet, reported on April 28 that the sharp fall was analysed as the result of a fragile market structure with a thin order book and a weekend gap in institutional liquidity that amplified a chain of liquidations, rather than the negative factor itself.

Analysts at Owamarket and Binance said Bitcoin has yet to close a liquidity sensitivity gap. They said institutional money supports liquidity on U.S. weekdays, but that base weakens on weekends, leaving prices more vulnerable to geopolitical and macro factors.

Once psychological levels such as $77,000 broke, automated systems triggered a cascade of forced liquidations in leveraged long positions. With thin buying interest, mechanical selling led to additional liquidations, widening the decline.

Analysts are watching the $74,000 to $82,000 range as a high-volatility zone for the time being. They said leveraged positions are concentrated in that band. They said open interest rose 20 to 30 percent over 48 hours, and if prices do not move in tandem, large-scale deleveraging can typically follow within 72 hours. They also cited perpetual swap funding rates above 0.1 percent or below minus 0.05 percent as early warning signals of overheated longs and overheated shorts, respectively.

Kaiko Research said the Bitcoin market shows different structures between U.S. weekdays and weekends. It said liquidity is deep on U.S. weekdays, centred on exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but becomes fragile on weekends. It also said a "Monday catch-up" effect, in which prices are recalibrated all at once after institutional liquidity providers return, aligns with that structure.

Kaiko and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) also pointed to a structure in which thin liquidity and high leverage amplify each other. They said shallow order books create large price gaps, those gaps trigger further liquidations, and market makers then step back to defend capital, leaving order books even thinner. Analysts warned that if a daily close forms below $74,000 to $74,259, prices could fall further to $60,000.