Data shows that more than $668 million in long cryptocurrency contracts have been reduced following bitcoin's fall below the $68,000 level.
bitcoin has recorded a 7% drop in the last 24 hours
Just after setting a new all-time high (ATH) not far from the $74,000 level, bitcoin price drastically reversed its trajectory over the past day.
The chart below shows the performance of the digital asset recently.
<img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium aligncenter" src="https://www.tradingview.com/x/uEp7WLLZ/" alt="bitcoin price chart” width=”1534″ height=”854″/>
The value of the asset appears to have plunged over the last day | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView
As can be seen from the chart, bitcoin quickly recovered towards the $72,400 mark midway through the decline, but the pullback was only temporary as the coin soon resumed its decline and sank below the $67,000 level.
From this low, btc has recovered slightly to $67,600, meaning it has seen a drop of almost 7% in the last 24 hours. As is often the case, ethereum (eth) and altcoins have also followed the lead of the original cryptocurrency, witnessing their own declines.
With all this marked price action in the market, forced contract closures or “liquidations” have likely piled up on the derivatives side of the sector. In fact, the data confirms it.
crypto derivatives market has seen $813 million in liquidations today
According to data from glass coinThe cryptocurrency derivatives market has seen total liquidations of a whopping $813 million over the past 24 hours.
The following table shows the relevant figures related to this latest settlement.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-287373 aligncenter" src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Bitcoin-Drop-Below-68000-Squeezes-Crypto-Long-Positions-of-668.png" alt="bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Settlements” width=”558″ height=”296″ data-recalc-dims=”1″/>
The massive liquidations that have occurred over the past day | Source: CoinGlass
As shown above, around $663 million of these liquidations involved long-term contracts, meaning this side of the market contributed an overwhelming 81% of the total flow. This lines up with price action as assets across the sector have plummeted during this period.
Mass liquidation events like today are popularly known as “squeezes.” In these events, sell-offs fall together like a waterfall and amplify the strong price movement that triggered them. Since the longs took the brunt of the beating in the last squeeze, it would be classified as a “long squeeze.”
As for how the various individual symbols contributed to this contraction, the table below shows the data for this breakdown.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-287385 aligncenter" src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/1710545465_599_Bitcoin-Drop-Below-68000-Squeezes-Crypto-Long-Positions-of-668.png" alt="bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies” width=”640″ height=”293″ srcset=”https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/data_7dd4a5.png?w=785 785w, https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/1710545465_599_Bitcoin-Drop-Below-68000-Squeezes-Crypto-Long-Positions-of-668.png 640w, https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/data_7dd4a5.png?w=768 768w, https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/data_7dd4a5.png?w=750 750w” sizes=”(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px” data-recalc-dims=”1″/>
The breakdown of the liquidations across the various symbols | Source: CoinGlass
Unsurprisingly, bitcoin and ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, take first and second place, respectively. Solana (SOL) is the altcoin with the most liquidations at $41 million.
SOL is the only coin among major assets that has achieved strong positive returns over the past 24 hours, and it is also among the best performers over the past week. This strong performance may be the reason why it has more speculative interest behind it than the other alternatives at the moment.
Featured image from Shutterstock.com, CoinGlass.com, chart from TradingView.com
