The crypto market experienced a massive price drop on Thursday, leading to the loss of about $1.08 billion from long leverage positions. The price drop occurred about 24 hours after Jerome Powell, Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, delivered an unfavorable speech to the crypto community.
The crypto market has been on the bullish side since November. So, about 3500,000 traders who had opened long positions in the drive of the uptrend have been affected by the unexpected price plummet.
$1.08B Down the Drain
According to Coinglass, an on-chain liquidation tracker, the most significant single liquidation order was an ETHUSDT order on the Binance exchange, valued at $15.80 million. Ethereum (ETH) dropped by over 10% to reach $3,350.
The sharp price drop also affected the world’s leading cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC), which crashed by over 6%, moving below the $96,000 mark for the first time in ten days. BTC long traders lost over $200 million, about 20% of the massive loss day. At press time, the apex coin has settled at $96,800, gearing up for a price recovery.
Notably, Dogecoin traders were also massively affected. It ranked third, recording a $50 million loss, while Solana (SOL) and Ripple (XRP) long traders lost $34 and $31 million, respectively.
Investors Buy the Dip
Despite the price tumble, many institutional investors have shown confidence in the crypto market by purchasing BTC at a cheaper rate, expecting a price rebound in the coming days.
On the day of the price drop, Florida-based Bitcoin mining firm Hut 8 announced a purchase of 990 bitcoins for $100 million, acquired at an average price of $101,710. This brought its total holdings to 10,096 BTC. Similarly, MARA Holdings spent $1.53 billion to acquire 15,574 BTC at an average price of $98,529 per bitcoin. It now holds 44,394 bitcoins.
Additionally, many investors have ventured into the market by acquiring crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Since last month, the funds have been on a 14-day inflow streak.
Meanwhile, famous American author Robert Kiyosaki predicted that BTC would crash to $60,000 before a massive pump in 2025.
