Bitcoin’s value plummeted below $61,000 on Monday amidst mounting bearish sentiment, triggering a staggering $320 million in liquidations across the market within a mere 24 hours.
The inability of bullish investors to uphold crucial price thresholds resulted in BTC declining further, raising concerns that it may dip below the psychologically pivotal $60,000 mark.
The altcoin sector mirrored this downturn, with Ethereum faltering below the $3,300 level and Solana, BNB, and XRP relinquishing substantial portions of recent gains. Notably, Uniswap and Maker suffered the most significant setbacks among the top 50 coins, each plunging by 12% and 9% respectively over the past day.
Bitcoin’s slide past $62,000 on Monday catalyzed liquidations exceeding $300 million across the crypto landscape. With BTC hovering below $61,000 and poised for further declines, leveraged long positions faced an onslaught, surpassing $324 million in liquidations. Of this total, long positions accounted for approximately $286 million, while shorts amounted to $36 million.
Coinglass data disclosed that Bitcoin alone accounted for nearly $132 million of these liquidations. Long positions, totaling nearly $122 million, constituted the majority of traders caught in the turbulence, overshadowing liquidated short positions which amounted to approximately $9.9 million. Remarkably, more than $95 million of these liquidated longs occurred within the past 12 hours.
Overall, the past 24 hours witnessed the liquidation of over 85,440 traders, highlighting the severe impact of the market downturn. Notably, the largest single liquidation event, valued at $15.36 million, occurred on Binance for the BTC/USDT pair as of 12:30 pm ET on June 24.
The sharp decline in Bitcoin’s price today can be attributed to significant developments on June 24, particularly the announcement by the trustee of the bankrupt Mt. Gox exchange regarding the imminent commencement of repayments to creditors starting in July. With over $9 billion worth of BTC tied up in the defunct exchange and slated for distribution, investor response was swift and harsh, triggering a more than 5% drop in Bitcoin’s price as it breached key support levels amid fears of potential sell-offs.
Compounding this downward pressure was recent selling activity by a wallet associated with the German government, which earlier this year confiscated nearly 50,000 BTC valued at approximately $2.1 billion. The proceeds from the sale of a substantial portion of these coins, amounting to over $3 billion in total value due to Bitcoin’s recent gains, likely exacerbated selling pressures.
Additionally, miners have offloaded approximately 30,000 BTC since the halving, contributing further to market liquidity and selling pressure.