Crypto liquidations surpass $135m as Bitcoin surpasses $49k
Bitcoin has seen a significant increase in value over the past week, rising by 16%, and over the last 30 days, with a gain of 15%. However, despite this positive trend, the price volatility of leveraged crypto positions remains a challenge.
On February 12, Bitcoin reached a price above $49,000 after eight consecutive days of gains. Unfortunately, this resulted in widespread liquidations for cryptocurrency traders within the past 24 hours.
According to CoinGlass, a total of over $135 million was wiped out from the crypto markets, affecting both long and short positions. Long bets are placed when traders expect higher prices, while short bets are made when predictions lean towards lower ranges.
The largest liquidation order occurred on the OKX crypto exchange, with an ETH-USD pair worth nearly $4 million. However, the majority of the liquidated positions were BTC shorts.
Approximately $35 million in short Bitcoin positions were eliminated, compared to roughly $16 million in long trades. Ethereum ranked second in terms of liquidations, but long positions were dominant in leveraged bets. The volatility in the crypto markets resulted in over $13 million in liquidated ETH longs and over $7 million in ETH shorts.
Solana closely followed BTC and ETH in third place, with less than $8 million in closed leveraged trades.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, broke through the $49,000 mark for the first time since January 11. At the time of writing, BTC had gained over 3% in value, and interested buyers could purchase the coin for approximately $49,700 according to CoinMarketCap.
This price increase was accompanied by a 26% surge in daily trading volume, with BTC traders conducting transactions worth over $25 billion across supported platforms. The market capitalization of the token also skyrocketed to $970 billion, inching closer to the $1 trillion valuation milestone.
As BTC approaches its fourth halving in 62 days and celebrates its 15-year anniversary, it is set to become the first cryptocurrency in history to achieve this milestone.
In summary, Bitcoin has experienced significant gains in recent days, but the volatility of leveraged crypto positions continues to be a challenge. Despite this, Bitcoin has broken through the $49,000 mark, marking a significant milestone in its history.
