Data shows that around $533 million in crypto long contracts have been flushed down as Bitcoin crashed below the $63,000 level.
Bitcoin Has Continued Its Recent Downtrend During The Past Day
Since setting a new all-time high (ATH) above the $73,800 mark, Bitcoin’s fates have changed as the digital asset has switched to experiencing bearish momentum instead.
The coin has extended this latest drawdown in the last 24 hours, dropping its price by more than 7%. The chart below shows the cryptocurrency’s recent performance.
The asset's value has been slipping down since setting a new record | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView
As the graph shows, Bitcoin has plunged to the $62,600 level for the first time in a few weeks. This means that BTC has declined by over 15% since the ATH.
While BTC’s performance in the past day has been bad, the rest of the sector has performed even worse on average, with some coins even dipping into double-digit losses.
Because of all this volatility, the derivative side of the market has seen a shakeup as liquidations have piled up on the various exchanges.
Crypto Derivative Market Has Seen Huge Liquidations In The Past Day
A contract is said to be “liquidated” when it amasses losses of a specific degree, leading to the platform with which it’s open stepping in and forcibly closing it off.
According to data from CoinGlass, many such liquidations have occurred in the cryptocurrency sector during the last 24 hours. The table below breaks down this market flush.
The leverage flush that has occurred in the market during the past day | Source: CoinGlass
It would appear that almost $657 million in cryptocurrency derivative contracts have been liquidated in the past day. Given that the price action in the market today has been heavily towards the downside, it’s not surprising that the vast majority of this flush involved long contracts.
More specifically, the long side of the market has suffered $533 million in liquidations, while the short side has been dealt a $123 million blow. More than 80% of the liquidations have involved those betting on a bullish outcome for the asset.
In terms of the individual symbols, Bitcoin and Ethereum have again been at the top of the charts, with $191 million and $134 million in liquidations, respectively.
The breakdown of the liquidations by symbol | Source: CoinGlass
Out of the altcoins, Solana (SOL) and Dogecoin (DOGE) have stood out with their $39 million and $14 million liquidations, respectively. Their large flushes may be partially due to their sharper drops than the other alts.
The chart below shows that despite the high liquidations, the Bitcoin Open Interest is still at relatively extreme levels.
Speculative interest in the cryptocurrency still appears to be high | Source: CoinGlass
The “Open Interest” measures the total number of BTC-related contracts on the derivative market. Generally, the coin is more likely to show volatility when this metric is high, so sharp price action may continue until the indicator cools off more.
Featured image from Shutterstock.com, CoinGlass.com, chart from TradingView.com
