Cryptocurrencies fell as Asian futures moved lower on Tuesday evening, triggering a wave of liquidations on the Bybit exchange.
The price is Bitcoin It was last down 6.2% at $59,504.68, according to Coin Metrics. ether It fell more than 8% to $2,457.61.
Steven Lubka, head of private client and family office at Swan Bitcoin, said: “The cryptocurrency market has fallen sharply, triggering a leverage-driven liquidation.” “The move appears to have been triggered by a sharp drop in Ethereum, And Ethereum has been struggling against Bitcoin all year.”
Bitcoin drops below $60,000
According to CoinGlass, $93.52 million in Ethereum longs have been liquidated on the futures market, forcing traders to sell assets at market prices on centralized exchanges to pay off debt. The amount of Bitcoin liquidated was approximately US$85.93 million.
“Leverage-driven flushes are often good buying opportunities,” Lubka added. “While I expect the market to buy Bitcoin on the dip, Ethereum will likely continue to struggle until investors have reason to be bullish on the asset again.”
Bitcoin is still up 39% this year. Ethereum maintained modest gains of 7%.
“This is exactly the kind of liquidation and price action we see in bull markets,” said Bitwise Asset Management analyst Ryan Rasmussen. “The bulls get over the skis and get wiped out, and then the bears do the same, and so on. When you zoom out, a 5% move in Bitcoin’s price is just a blip on the radar.”
August is typically a quiet month for cryptocurrencies and risk assets, but this year has been particularly volatile. However, cryptocurrencies are no strangers to sharp retracements in bull markets. Bitcoin remains safely within the range it has been in since April – between $55,000 and $70,000.
Some market participants noted that Tuesday’s crypto pullback accelerated following news that a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., returned an amended indictment against former President Donald Trump in his criminal election interference case.
Trump is positioning himself as a pro-cryptocurrency candidate in the upcoming US presidential election. Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris has yet to make her thoughts on the industry public.
“Traders don’t like instability and tend to take risks in cashing out in this environment,” said Bartosz Lipiński, CEO of cryptocurrency trading platform Cube.Exchange. “That may be the case today.”
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