The $64,000 level has become a kind of battleground for Bitcoin traders in the second half of July. As Bitcoin.com News reported earlier, a drop below this level occurred late last week when the asset retreated from a high of nearly $67,000, triggering $87 million in position liquidations, of which $70 million were long positions and $17 million were short positions.
Plunge in Chipmaker Stocks on KOSPI Adds to Risk-Off Sentiment
The liquidations coincided with a sharp sell-off in South Korean stocks: the KOSPI index fell 8.02%, or 542.24 points, to 6,213.51, triggering the eighth volatility curb activation of the year amid a tumble in U.S. semiconductor maker shares. This was another episode in a series of plunges triggered by chip stock declines this month; a similar KOSPI sell-off on July 13 marked the seventh activation of the exchange's volatility curb in 2026.
Cryptocurrencies and semiconductor company stocks have moved largely in sync for most of the year. A report on the mid-July sell-off, when the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gave up gains accumulated amid AI infrastructure enthusiasm, noted that "over the past two years, cryptocurrencies have increasingly traded as a high-beta extension of the tech sector."
During that same episode, Bitcoin fell 1.2% to below $63,000 amid a broader tech sector decline, once again demonstrating how fluctuations in Seoul exchanges and the chip trading desks on Wall Street have repeatedly impacted digital asset prices.
Traders Now Eye Fed Rate Decision
A more significant catalyst may still be ahead, considering that the Federal Reserve under Chairman Kevin Warsh on July 28 opened its two-day meeting, at which the federal funds rate was left at 3.50–3.75% for a fourth consecutive meeting, with forecasts for the timing of a possible 2026 rate cut already being pushed later in several outlooks.
A monetary policy statement is expected tomorrow, and Bitcoin.com News cites the Fed's decision, along with the upcoming vote on the "Digital Asset Market Transparency Act" and two anticipated Bitcoin forks in August, as a collection of catalysts that could spark sharper price swings towards the month's end.
Nonetheless, none of these factors have been resolved yet, helping to explain why the $64,000 mark continues to be tested from both sides rather than being decisively broken. Option and leveraged positions have concentrated around strike prices ranging from $65,000 to $70,000, meaning traders are still betting on a recovery, even as short-term liquidations pile up at the lower end of this range.
Finally, weak inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs and Strategy Inc.'s decision to hold $544.5 million in cash instead of replenishing its Bitcoin holdings are also cited as real headwinds that traders are likely to view as the next major test of the support level's strength.
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