Over the past few days, Bitcoin’s price has achieved one of its best performances so far in the first quarter of 2026. Buoyed by rising geopolitical tensions between the US-Isreal and Iran, the top cryptocurrency has surged to $74,000 over the past week.

However, it didn’t take long for Bitcoin’s price to fall back below the psychological level of $70,000, confirming that the recent rally has only brought relief. Given the continued bearish market structure, it remains to be seen how low the BTC price will be in the current phase.

Debts worth $70 million at risk of liquidation

In a fresh post on social media platform X, cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez revealed why a further decline to around $54,000 over the remainder of this phase is possible and could be bad news for both investors and the Bitcoin price. Therefore, the $54,000 value could be an extremely key region for the flagship cryptocurrency in this bear market.

Martinez’s rating is based on the Aggregate Liquidation Levels Heatmap metric, which visualizes price zones with a high concentration of long or compact liquidations. As expected, the red (scorching) color on the map indicates a concentrated liquidation point of several highly leveraged, often highly liquid positions.

A drop to $54,000 could wipe out more than $70 million in Bitcoin $BTC long positions. pic.twitter.com/Ar66Q3Cd20

— Ali Charts (@alicharts) March 7, 2026

These high liquidity spots often have some degree of magnetic effect and prices often attract prices to them. According to Martinez, this “hot” zone for the Bitcoin price lies around $54,000, and long positions worth over $70 million are at risk of liquidation.

Typically, a drop in Bitcoin’s price to around $54,000 would do additional damage to already low market sentiment. Meanwhile, from a technical perspective, the significant liquidation cascade that is likely to occur at this level could lead to a phenomenon called a “long squeeze,” in which the flagship cryptocurrency continues its decline with fresh momentum.

To be clear, a Long Squeeze typically occurs when the falling price of a cryptocurrency (in this case, Bitcoin) forces bull traders to sell their assets in order to cut losses or break even. This sell-off catalyzes the ongoing bear reaction and causes the BTC price to drop further.

Ultimately, the $54,000 region, which is also near the realized price, appears to be one of the most critical levels for Bitcoin’s price trajectory over the next few months.

Bitcoin price at a glance

At the time of writing, BTC is trading at around $67,830, reflecting a decline of over 4% in the last 24 hours. Since hitting a monthly high near $74,000 on Wednesday, March 4, the main cryptocurrency has fallen almost 10%.

Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView