Bitcoin slips below its 50-week average for the first time since September as the Nasdaq rebounds nearly 3% and about $1.15 billion is liquidated

Bitcoin ended Sunday just under a line that traders watch closely. It closed the week about 0.7% below its 50-week moving average, which stood at $75,488, according to Alex Thorn of Galaxy, quoted by The Block. That was the first weekly close below the average since September and it ended seven consecutive weeks above it. On Monday morning bitcoin briefly traded below $74,000.

Liquidations were heavy. CoinGlass counted more than $1.15 billion in 24 hours, with $1.04 billion in longs and $117 million in shorts, led by more than $500 million in ether and about $309 million in bitcoin. The Block cautions that some exchanges report incompletely, so totals may be higher.

Stocks went the other way. The Motley Fool reports the Nasdaq Composite rallied nearly 3% as investors returned to technology shares. As of about 2:20pm Pacific, per that report, bitcoin was near $74,824 and ether near $2,127, with bitcoin down 2.7% and ether down 5.3% over seven days.

Thorn says that in the 2011 to 2012 and 2019 to 2020 cycles the earlier bear-market low held on a weekly close, but his sample has only five cases. The cycle low so far is $59,517, set on June 28.