According to data from CoinGecko, the world’s leading crypto asset, bitcoin (BTC), has seen a sharp plummet to $117,500 on Thursday. Following the downtrend, leverage traders who opened positions based on the bullish sentiment surrounding the market were knocked out, resulting in over $1 billion in losses.
Remarkably, just about 12 hours ago, the apex coin reached a new landmark high of $124,484. Its market capitalization also soared to surpass that of Google and Amazon. However, the sharp price drop has brought the crypto back to number seven on the world’s list of largest assets with $2.37 market cap.
Over $1 Billion in the Mud
Based on data from the on-chain liquidations tracker, CoinGlass, the past 24 hours suddenly turned reddish for perpetuals traders. Over 200,000 traders have liquidated at this time. Bullish traders with long positions lost $770 million, while bearish traders who went short on the market have shed $270 million, despite the market’s decline.
The highest single liquidation trigger was on the Bybit crypto exchange. The trader lost $10 million on the BTCUSDT pair. Bybit also had the highest number of affected traders, accounting for over 40% of the total liquidated positions.
Remarkably, the downtrend was not limited to BTC. Many high and low-capitalization coins were driven by the bearish wave. Ethereum (ETH), which was close to hitting a new all-time high, tumbled to $4,455, resulting in over $300 million in losses. Solana (SOL), which surged to its six-month high around $209, plunged to $187, ripping off over $72 million from traders.
Will Price Recover Soon?
The crypto market has shown notable volatility in recent weeks as investors exited their positions to secure profits. Moreover, bitcoin’s sharp plummet on Thursday sharply contrasts the predictions from various who envisioned a further uptrend. However, it moves in accordance with a recent projection by BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, who said the market is expected to drop to $100,000.
However, Former ARK Invest’s Blockchain Exec, Chris Burniske, recently noted via an X post that the next two months could be bullish with BTC jumping by an extra 20% to surpass $142,000 and ETH witnessing a 50% surge to trade between $6,900 and $8,000. He added that SOL could trade at double its current value to $420.
Meanwhile, at the time of writing, ETH has recovered to $4,600, BTC is back above $118,000, and SOL is close to gaining its ground above $200.
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