For the first time since its inception in 2009, the world’s leading crypto, bitcoin (BTC), reached six figures as it passed the $100,000 mark on Thursday. However, the uptrend was short-lived as the crypto unexpectedly dropped by more than 12% a few hours later to liquidate more than 100,000 derivatives traders on long trades.
The downward movement below $91,000 lasted just 15 minutes, after which the apex coin found a balance around the $98,000 mark. The leading crypto is valued at $98,113 per BTC at press time.
$1 Billion Gone
According to the online liquidations tracker, Coinglass, the crypto market lost about $1.03 billion due to the sharp price drop. Over $740 million was lost from long positions, with just $286 million coming from short positions.
Notably, traders on the Crypto exchange OKX were at the forefront of the massive bleeding, losing more than $350 million. Binance traders lost approximately $200 million, and leverage traders on Bybit lost about $100 million. About 40% of the recorded liquidations occurred in other exchanges around the globe.
Despite the massive liquidations, investors are still confident in the leading crypto, as the market’s Fear and Greed Index (FGI) only dropped slightly from 75 to 72 at the time of writing.
One factor boosting investors’ confidence is the U.S. election of Donald Trump as president and his selection of former SEC commissioner Paul Atkins as the new Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Holders Swim In Profit
Bitcoin’s uptrend past the $100,000 mark has increased the profits of long-time crypto holders, including MicroStrategy’s founder, Michael Saylor, American author Robert Kiyosaki, and others on the list.
Moreover, institutions like MicroStrategy, an American-based business firm that holds about 402,100 BTC, 2% of the total BTC supply, are swimming in historic profits. It acquired all its holdings for $23.4 billion at an average price of $58,263 per bitcoin. With BTC’s surge to $104,000, the company has recorded more than $40 billion in profits.
Similarly, American Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital holds 33,875 BTC, which soared to more than $3.5 billion after the pump.
Meanwhile, amid the uptrend and massive liquidations, defunct crypto exchange Mt.Gox moved about $2.8 billion in BTC in its strategic repayment move. It still holds bitcoins worth $4 billion.
