Bitcoin drops 4% as $156.4m in liquidations hits crypto market

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has dropped 4% in the last 24 hours amid $155.25 million in liquidations across the crypto market.

After holding above the $60,000 level for four consecutive days, Bitcoin (BTC) fell below this threshold on Aug. 11, dipping further to below $59,000. The cryptocurrency hit an intraday low of $58,269 after earlier reaching a high of $61,562.

BTC price chart – Aug. 12 | Source; crypto.news

Data from CoinGecko shows that the broader crypto market declined by 4.32% over the past 24 hours, reducing its total value to $2.05 trillion.

Despite a 52% increase in global crypto trading volume compared to the previous day, trading activity remained lower than the previous week. This recent dip brings BTC’s weekly loss against the U.S. dollar to 9.7%.

Ethereum (ETH) also saw a decline, dropping to $2,527 after peaking at $2,711 earlier in the day. At the time of writing, ETH was trading at $2,553.

Among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, Toncoin (TON) suffered the most significant loss, falling 8.43%, followed by Solana (SOL) with an 8.12% decrease, and Dogecoin (DOGE), which declined by approximately 6.75%. As the evening of Aug. 11 progressed, market prices remained volatile with heightened selling pressure.

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Today proved challenging for traders in the crypto derivatives markets as a significant number of long positions were liquidated. Data from Coinglass indicates that total crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours reached $155.25 million. Of this, approximately 80%, or $124 million, involved long trading positions, representing traders who had anticipated further price increases.

Crypto liquidations map – Aug. 12 | Source: Coinglass

In the last 24 hours, over 61,637 traders were liquidated. The largest single liquidation occurred on the OKX exchange, amounting to $2.17 million.

Bitcoin led the liquidations with $41.31 million, followed closely by Ethereum, which saw $39.53 million in liquidations.

According to Coinglass, Binance topped the list with $7.04 million in liquidations — $2.42 million from long positions and $4.62 million from shorts. OKX followed with $3.48 million in liquidations — $1.30 million from longs and $2.18 million from short positions.

As a result, total crypto open interest dropped by 3.12% and is currently around $27.5 billion, per Coinglass data.

Despite recent fluctuations in the cryptocurrency market, analysts from Grayscale Research predict potential price increases in the coming months. They believe that token valuations could recover if the U.S. economy manages to achieve a “soft landing” and avert a recession, with Bitcoin possibly approaching its all-time high later in the year.

Read more: Aug. 15 crucial date as Bitcoin and altcoins continue to rise

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