Bitcoin Drop to $84K Fills CME Futures Record Price Gap, Nearly $1B Bets Liquidated

A closely-watched gap in bitcoin’s BTC$89,274.20 CME futures has been fully filled a day after a record jump in opening and closing prices, possibly setting the stage for the next climb.

BTC soared to $92,000 on Monday, fueled by renewed institutional fervor after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans for a strategic crypto reserve late Sunday, including the biggest token and ether ETH$3,034.61, XRP, Solana’s SOL and Cardano’s ADA.

However, the rally left a significant gap in the CME Bitcoin futures chart between Friday’s close at $84,500 and Monday’s open at $95,300. That has been fully by Asian afternoon hours on Tuesday with BTC retracing to $83,500.

CME gaps — price disparities caused by the exchange’s weekend closure while spot markets trade around the clock — tend to historically act as magnets for bitcoin prices.

Data shows most of these gaps eventually fill, often signaling a correction after sharp moves — and Tuesday's gap-fill is yet another instance where BTC tends to revert to equilibrium after an explosive move higher.

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s price action has evaporated over $900 million in bullish bets on crypto-tracked futures in the past 24 hours, data shows, bringing three-day losses to over $1.5 billion.

Nearly $400 million in bets on higher bitcoin prices were liquidated in the past 24 hours, with most originating in late U.S. and early Asian hours, as BTC prices reversed from Monday’s rally.

Liquidations occur when an exchange forcefully closes a trader's leveraged position due to a partial or total loss of the trader's initial margin. It happens when a trader cannot meet the margin requirements for a leveraged position, that is, they don't have enough funds to keep the trade open.

Unusually high liquidations can be used in confluence with other market indicators in trading strategies. Assets can be considered overbought and ripe for a reversal or profit-taking — making it a contrary dataset to watch for.

So is there reason to cheer now that the gap has been filled and a large liquidation has occurred? Perhaps not.

A bearish range breakdown has put another gap in CME bitcoin futures below $80,000 under scrutiny, one which formed three months ago.

The gap appeared in the CME futures after Trump was first elected president in early November, with prices opening above $81,000 — a notch above an election-day high of $77,930.