Bitcoin plunged to $73,510 on Sunday, roughly 100 minutes after reports surrounding an Nvidia controversy emerged. Weak weekend liquidity appears to have intensified the selling pressure, allowing BTC’s decline to accelerate within a short period.
During Sunday’s late trading session, Bitcoin dropped from $75,607 to $73,510 in just ten minutes, marking its lowest price since August 21. The steepest decline occurred at 21:55 UTC (4:55 p.m. New York time), when BTC lost 1.9% in a single minute on Binance.
The Nvidia controversy quickly attracted attention as a possible trigger. CNBC reported earlier Sunday that Nvidia’s board had initiated an independent investigation into CEO Jensen Huang’s alleged relationship with a woman whom U.S. intelligence agencies reportedly suspect of sharing information with Beijing. These allegations remain unverified.
Huang reportedly acknowledged the relationship in an email to Nvidia employees.
Bitcoin has struggled to recover from the sudden decline. By Monday morning, BTC was trading around $74,184 on Binance, approximately 2.2% below its price when the Nvidia report was published. The latest weakness also extended Bitcoin’s losing streak to five consecutive weeks. Its weekly candle finished at $74,851, compared with an opening price of $78,354.
The central question is whether the Nvidia controversy sparked Bitcoin’s sudden sell-off or whether thin weekend liquidity transformed a relatively modest wave of selling into a much sharper market decline.
Nvidia Controversy Surfaced Before Bitcoin’s Sudden Price Drop
The timing indicates that Bitcoin did not immediately respond to the Nvidia headline. CNBC published its report at 20:12 UTC on Sunday (3:12 p.m. Eastern time), when BTC was trading near $75,880 on Binance.
For approximately 90 minutes, the cryptocurrency market showed little reaction. By 21:44 UTC, Bitcoin had slipped to $75,607, representing a decline of only 0.4% since the report appeared.
Selling pressure intensified shortly afterward, with Ethereum leading the downturn. Between 21:50 and 21:55 UTC, ETH plunged 6.9% on Binance, falling from $2,213 to $2,060. Bitcoin declined by 2.4% over the same five-minute interval.
This sequence suggests that leveraged liquidations may have accelerated the downturn. When traders borrow funds to maintain bullish positions, exchanges automatically close those positions once prices reach predetermined liquidation thresholds. These forced transactions create additional selling pressure, potentially pushing prices lower and triggering another wave of liquidations.
Nevertheless, the Nvidia report may have contributed to the broader risk-off sentiment. Nvidia remains one of the most influential companies in the artificial intelligence industry, while Bitcoin has shown a close relationship with AI-related stocks in recent weeks. The previous Thursday’s semiconductor sell-off had already pushed BTC below its 200-day moving average.
Since traditional equity markets were closed on Sunday, cryptocurrency exchanges remained among the few major markets where investors could immediately respond to the negative headline.
Geopolitical concerns also added pressure. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Iran’s demands as “outrageous” and indicated that diplomatic negotiations had made no meaningful progress.
Thin Weekend Liquidity Made Bitcoin’s Sell-Off More Severe
Reduced weekend participation may explain why Bitcoin experienced such an aggressive price movement. Over the previous 12 months, Binance recorded average BTC trading volume of approximately $24 million per weekend hour, compared with nearly $48 million during a typical weekday hour.
An examination of hourly Bitcoin movements identified 29 occasions over the past year when BTC declined at least 2.5% from its opening price within an hour.
Sunday’s decline generated approximately $180 million in trading volume during the affected hour. This represented the second-lowest volume among those 29 sell-offs and was significantly below their median volume of $366 million.
These figures indicate that Bitcoin required considerably less selling pressure than usual to experience such a sharp decline. The busiest minute occurred at 21:55 UTC, when Binance recorded approximately $75 million in BTC trading volume. That was roughly three times the amount normally exchanged during an entire weekend hour.
However, lower weekend liquidity does not automatically translate into a greater likelihood of crashes. Of the 29 significant hourly declines identified, only six occurred on Saturdays or Sundays. This was slightly below the 29% proportion of total trading hours that fall during weekends.
Instead, the primary difference is how much prices move in response to available selling pressure. When market participation is limited, even relatively modest sell orders can produce disproportionately large price swings.
One important limitation is that the analysis does not account for futures trading, where much of the forced selling and leveraged liquidations may have taken place.
The evidence therefore points to a combination of factors rather than a single trigger. Nvidia-related uncertainty and geopolitical tensions may have encouraged investors to reduce exposure, while limited weekend liquidity amplified the resulting Bitcoin sell-off.
Bitcoin Price Analysis: Will BTC Hold the $73,510 Level?
Bitcoin initially defended the $73,510 low and staged a recovery toward $75,735 within two hours. However, the rebound lost momentum, with BTC subsequently retreating to approximately $74,184.
The broader daily chart continues to favor sellers. Bitcoin is trading below all three of its daily exponential moving averages (EMAs), which give greater importance to recent price movements. The cryptocurrency also slipped beneath its 200-day EMA on Thursday, weakening its longer-term technical structure.
Key resistance levels:
- $75,735: Sunday’s recovery peak and immediate resistance.
- $76,490: The 200-day EMA.
- $77,607: The 100-day EMA.
Important support levels:
- $73,510: Sunday’s intraday low and immediate support.
- $73,027: The August 21 low and the next downside level to monitor.
A recovery above the immediate resistance zone could help Bitcoin regain some bullish momentum. However, another rejection could increase the possibility of a retest of $73,510. A decisive break below that level would bring $73,027 into focus as the next potential support.
