Bitcoin long positions cause $247 million in liquidations amid market calm.
Crypto markets experienced significant volatility just days before Bitcoin’s highly anticipated halving event. The price of Bitcoin fluctuated between $61,000 and $64,000, causing a wave of liquidations in Bitcoin positions and across the broader digital asset ecosystem, according to CoinGlass.
Long BTC positions were hit the hardest on April 18 when the token briefly dropped below $62,000. Traders who had bet on higher Bitcoin prices suffered over $57 million in liquidations across multiple trading venues. On the other hand, short positions, which predicted price declines, lost more than $36 million in just 24 hours.
One notable liquidation order was a BTC/USDT pair trader on the crypto exchange OKX, who faced a $5.3 million loss. In total, over 74,571 traders saw their positions wiped out from the market.
While Bitcoin dominated the liquidation figures, Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, also experienced significant liquidations. Long and short traders lost over $53 million in total. Other cryptocurrencies like Solana and Dogecoin faced considerably smaller losses, with $14 million and $9 million in liquidations, respectively.
The volatile market conditions and subsequent price swings are seen as a cooling-off period after Bitcoin reached a new all-time high last month. The overall crypto market currently stands at a valuation of $2.3 trillion, down 0.9% from previous levels. During the previous bull run, the market surpassed $3 trillion, and it came close to this peak following Bitcoin’s surge earlier this year.
It is worth noting that volatility before a halving event is not uncommon in the crypto market. Historically, prices have retraced up to 50% before Bitcoin’s code change takes effect. The halving will cut the block reward by half, potentially impacting mining companies’ revenue.
To prepare for the halving, miners reportedly increased their mining operations to extract as much value as possible from the blockchain. This strategy allows them to build up cash reserves to cover operational costs.
Overall, the crypto market remains unpredictable, and investors are closely monitoring the effects of the halving event on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
