Live markets: Bitcoin retreats under $72,000 as Strategy unloads BTC for first time in four years

With bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies down 2%-4% over the past 24 hours amid Strategy’s BTC sales and Iran headlines, crypto-related stocks are opening sharply lower across the board.

Strategy (MSTR) is leading on the downside, down 8.2%. Fellow bitcoin treasury companies Nakamoto (NAKA), Strive (ASST), and XXI Capital (XXI) are all down 4%-6%.

Coinbase (COIN) is off 6%, while Robinhood (HOOD) is down 7.5%. Bullish (BLSH), Galaxy Digital (GLXY), and Circle are all off roughly 5%.

“Strategy sells bitcoin, $2.5 million. May have to reevaluate pro-bitcoin stance given how much Strategy has propped it up. Key trampoline for years.”

So says Jim Cramer in a Monday morning tweet minutes after Strategy’s disclosure of bitcoin sales for the first time in nearly four years.

The tweet might give the bulls hope. The CNBC analyst is so well-known for getting calls completely wrong that he has inspired numerous “Inverse Cramer” strategies (with varying success).

Bitcoin longs are getting flushed as the slide accelerates. About $93.69 million in crypto positions liquidated in the past hour, 95% of them longs, per CoinGlass.

BTC alone accounted for $72.34 million of the past hour’s liquidations, with ETH a distant second at $7.77 million. The 24-hour tally now sits at $402 million across 135,585 traders, longs taking $275 million of that and shorts $127 million.

The forced selling tracks bitcoin’s slide from intraday highs above $74,000 reached earlier Monday to roughly $72,250 by the late Asian session, a 2.1% drop on the day, per CoinDesk data.

The pullback accelerated through European hours and into U.S. trading after Strategy’s (MSTR) 8-K filing disclosed the company’s first publicized bitcoin sale, 32 coins for $2.5 million at an average price of $77,135, with proceeds earmarked for preferred stock distributions.

Bitcoin had already been on the back foot heading into Monday. Spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. logged a record 10-session outflow streak through Friday, with $2.97 billion drained between May 15 and May 29 per SoSoValue, and Brent crude’s bounce above $93 a barrel on stalled U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks pulled risk appetite from the broader market.

Michael Saylor weeks ago teased that it was coming, but the news for the moment is shocking already depressed crypto markets even further.

Strategy (MSTR) in a Monday morning filing disclosed the sale of 32 bitcoin for $2.5 million. The amount is a rounding error compared to the 840,000-plus BTC held by the company, but it’s nevertheless significant, suggesting even larger sales down the road as Strategy looks to fund dividend payments on its high-yielding preferred stock STRC.

Bitcoin has slipped just below $72,000 on the news, down nearly 3% over the past 24 hours. MSTR shares are lower by 5.15% premarket. U.S. stocks, meanwhile. are set to add to record highs hit last week, with futures on all three major indices in the green.

Importantly, it’s not the first time Saylor and team have sold some of their stack. The company near the bottom of the 2022 bear market sold 704 bitcoin at about $18,000 each.

Bitcoin bulls can only hope the current sales again might be marking a significant bottoming in prices.