In the early hours of Monday morning, Bitcoin took a significant tumble, plunging below the $43,000 mark. This drop effectively erased the gains it had amassed over the past week, resulting in a staggering $390 million in liquidations across the crypto futures market within a mere 24-hour period.
As of the time of publication, Bitcoin is exchanging hands at approximately $42,400, marking a 3% decline within the past day. The cryptocurrency had briefly dipped to as low as $41,800 within this timeframe, according to CoinGecko’s data.
The substantial liquidation spree witnessed nearly $402 million in positions being closed within the past day, predominantly targeting long positions, accounting for over $345 million. Astonishingly, over $260 million of these closures occurred within the last hour alone, based on insights from CoinGlass. This affected a staggering count of 109,000 traders in the process.
Bitcoin bore the brunt of this sell-off, witnessing liquidations surpassing $103 million, with long positions accounting for $89 million of this sum.
This sudden downturn in Bitcoin’s value comes as a stumbling block to the recent rally that had bolstered the crypto market in the preceding week. Consequently, the global crypto market cap has taken a hit, declining by 3.1% over the past 24 hours to approximately $1.65 trillion.
Despite this setback, Bitcoin has retained a monthly surge of over 14% and a two-week gain of 13%. Remarkably, the cryptocurrency has seen an astounding 146% increase in value over the past year.
The bullish trend leading up to this hiccup had been largely fueled by optimism surrounding the potential approval of a spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC has been engaging in multiple meetings with applicants in recent weeks, creating hope for further legitimization and mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies.
Source: Decrypt