In the past 24 hours, leveraged trades worth over $361 million have been liquidated as Bitcoin reached a new record high of $73,050 before dropping below $70,000 on March 12. The majority of these liquidations were long positions, resulting in $258 million being wiped out, while short sellers lost just over $103 million, according to data from Coinglass. This is the largest liquidation of long positions since March 5, when Bitcoin fell to $60,800 after reaching its previous all-time high of around $69,000.
Despite this volatility, Bitcoin’s price only swung 4.85% between its low of $69,365 and high of $72,733, according to CoinGecko. As of now, Bitcoin has stabilized at $71,400. A spokesperson from 10x Research suggested that the increase in volatility is likely due to traders anticipating a price correction, but also noted the presence of FOMO (fear of missing out), suggesting that the rally may continue.
In addition, 10x Research observed a 5% increase in futures open interest over the weekend, which it believes may be due to traders using tight stops. Bitcoin and Ether were the most traded cryptocurrencies in the past 24 hours, with liquidations totaling $106.3 million and $73.3 million respectively. Other cryptocurrencies such as Solana, Dogecoin, and Ordi also experienced significant liquidations.
The majority of short and long liquidations occurred on OKX exchange, totaling $152 million, while Binance traders suffered combined losses of $128.4 million. In a separate report, research firm S3 Partners revealed that short sellers lost over $6 billion in their attempts to bet against publicly traded crypto firms during the first 11 months of 2023, as Bitcoin surged by 130% to $37,800 during the same period.
Overall, the cryptocurrency market continues to experience significant volatility, with traders closely monitoring price movements and anticipating potential corrections.