Crypto market downturn forces nearly $2 billion

Brutal decline: crypto market downturn forces nearly $2 billion in liquidations

Crypto market downturn forces $2 billion in liquidations

  • Crypto traders lost nearly $1.9 billion in liquidations today.
  • Bitcoin saw a new all-time high but was rejected soon after.
  • The cryptocurrency’s market capitalisation saw a $1 billion drop from its respective all-time high.

After Bitcoin climbed to a new all-time high just below $50,000 on 14 February, a sharp correction caused problems for many optimistic crypto traders.

According to CoinGecko data, Bitcoin hit another new all-time high of $49,531 in the late hours of 14 February. With the magic $50,000 milestone closer than ever, crypto traders by Bitcoin Champion took heavy long positions.

However, the market had other plans. When Bitcoin (Go to Buy Bitcoin at eToro guide) fell back to a local low of below $46,000 in the early hours of February 15, the total crypto market capitalisation was adjusted by $1 billion.

This downturn led to many over-leveraged long positions being unwound. Data from Bybt shows that $1.89 billion in losses occurred in the last 24 hours.

Cryptocurrency liquidations data from Bybt

Bitcoin and Ethereum accounted for the majority of liquidations as usual, totalling over $9 million between the two.

It also appears that Ripple’s XRP caught traders off guard. Ripple’s XRP had been steadily climbing back up after the token lost 50% following the announcement of an SEC lawsuit against Ripple Labs. Traders lost nearly $100 million betting on another revival.

Other notable losses include EOS, Litecoin (LTC) and Cardano (ADA), all of which have recently risen to multi-year highs. Each saw more than $50 million in liquidated losses.

This marks the third highest level for liquidations since early 2021. On 10 January, long traders were squeezed for $2.5 billion after Bitcoin fell from $41,000 to $30,000.

This was also the same day Ethereum fell back to $900 from an all-time high of $1,350 at the time.

It seems that the bleeding has stopped for now. Currently (time of this writing) Bitcoin had recovered slightly and is now trading back at $47,500.