Bitcoin rallied above $60k a few days ago, forming bullish candles while many investors bought the crypto, and analysts predicted further price uptrend. In contrast to the high hopes and predictions, the leading cryptocurrency faced a downturn, dumping to as low as $58,114 on Monday morning. Many traders who seized the bullish opportunity were liquidated, as the market lost about $185 million.
Crypto Liquidations Reach $185 Million
According to data from CoinGlass, over $185 million have been liquidated from the crypto market within the past 24 hours, a 292% increase from the previous day. About $25 million, almost 14% of the liquidations, were from forcefully closed short positions.
Notably, since the crypto market was bullish a few days ago, many traders expected a price pump and took on long or buy positions. However, that didn’t play out well. About $160 million was liquidated from long positions. Data also revealed that the liquidations were mostly from retail trade accounts, as the highest single liquidation was recorded in a centralized exchange, OKX, and was worth about $2 million on an ETH pair.
ETH led the liquidation, sweeping off $55 million, while BTC has cleared $35 million.
According to data from CoinGecko, the liquidations led to a 3.6% dip in the crypto market value, which is currently at $2.15 trillion.
Bitcoin Goes Below $58,000
Contributing to the liquidations on Monday was the sharp drop in bitcoin price, moving from the crypto price region around $60k to $58k.
The drop in bitcoin’s price is attributed to investor speculations concerning the forthcoming U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting scheduled for Wednesday. Investors and traders are unsure of the meeting’s outcome, so they have sold their holdings in fear that the decision may make it difficult for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to thrive.
Moreover, crypto-friendly U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has always spearheaded crypto adoption throughout his campaign, was nearly shot on Sunday, according to reports from the past weekend. Following the incident, he has confirmed his safety and is set to launch his new crypto platform on Monday evening.
At press time, live price data from CryptocurrenciesToWatch shows that BTC trades around $57,750 as investors’ fears continue to drive down the market.
