Data from the on-chain liquidations tracker, Coinglass, shows that over the last 24 hours, more than 215,000 leverage traders have lost approximately $986 million. Bullish traders lost $854 million to long positions, while about $113 million was swept off from short positions.
Remarkably, the massive liquidation was a result of a sharp drop in the price of bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies due to an unexpected fallout between the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, and the most powerful politician, Donald Trump. Notably, both figures are influential in the world’s financial market.
Musk-Trump Feud
According to the BBC, Musk criticised one of Trump’s key domestic policies, escalating the dispute between the two billionaires on Thursday. Thus, they both lashed out at each other on their individually owned social media platforms.
President Trump voiced disappointment with Musk’s criticism of his administration’s centerpiece tax and spending bill, adding that it may lead to the end of their great relationship, which had progressed to the billionaire entrepreneur serving as his campaign’s advisor. In response, Musk accused Trump of ungratefulness, saying, “Without me, Trump would have lost the election.”
Thereafter, President Trump posted on Truth Social, “The easiest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars, is to terminate Elon’s governmental subsidies and contracts,” leading the stock of Musk’s automobile company, Tesla, to plunge by 14% on Thursday.
Crypto Market Plunges
A few hours into the ongoing outburst, the world’s leading cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC), plummeted to $100,450 as many investors secured their funds. Unsure of the outcome of the fallout, indirect BTC investors also withdrew funds from many U.S.-approved exchange-traded funds (ETFs), resulting in a massive $278.4 million outflow on Thursday.
Other high-cap cryptos joined the downtrend as ETH fell to $2,390, SOL dipped to $142, and DOGE, the world’s first memecoin supported by Musk, plunged to $0.168.
Notably, the rivalry led the crypto market in the opposite direction of many analytical leverage traders, who had predicted a market uptrend and opened long positions. Thus, many were liquidated. The largest single liquidation, worth $10 million, was triggered on the Bitmex platform for the XBTUSD pair.
Meanwhile, at press time, the market has recovered slightly, with BTC trading around $104,000, as investors continue to purchase the leading cryptocurrency.
