Over 94,000 crypto traders lost $320 million in liquidations as Bitcoin defies bearish expectations.
Leveraged crypto traders are once again grappling with market volatility following Bitcoin’s BTC $81 946 24h volatility: 5.1% Market cap: $1.63 T Vol. 24h: $52.19 B historic rise to $106,000 for the first time on Monday. This price surge led to $320 million in liquidations within the past 24 hours and approximately $8 million erased from the market in the last hour. Traders with high-leverage positions failed to meet margin calls, triggering a cascade of forced sales.
According to data from CoinGlass, the majority of liquidations in the last 24 hours came from short traders who had anticipated a decline in the prices of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum ETH $1 786 24h volatility: 5.9% Market cap: $215.38 B Vol. 24h: $25.16 B , Ripple’s XRP XRP $2.05 24h volatility: 4.2% Market cap: $119.39 B Vol. 24h: $6.60 B , Dogecoin DOGE $0.16 24h volatility: 8.4% Market cap: $23.60 B Vol. 24h: $1.65 B , and Pepe coin PEPE $0.000007 24h volatility: 14.3% Market cap: $2.77 B Vol. 24h: $1.26 B . These investors, totaling 94,559, collectively lost approximately $196.41 million as the market defied their expectations.
Short Traders Hit Hard
For long traders, the losses remained relatively modest compared to their short counterparts. As of Monday, December 16, roughly $117 million in leveraged long positions were forcibly closed.
CoinGlass data revealed that BTC alone contributed $120 million to the total liquidations, with short traders bearing the brunt of the losses. During this liquidation period, $104 million was wiped out from short positions, while long traders endured a relatively minor loss of nearly $16 million.
Over the past few weeks, following the market’s resurgence after the successful conclusion of the United States elections in November, short traders have consistently been on the losing side, frequently falling prey to the bullish market movements.
The trend changed on Monday, December 9, when 9, 514,400 traders faced liquidations amounting to $1.51 billion. During this liquidation window, about $1.38 billion of the total loss stemmed from long positions and $136.7 million from short positions. Bitcoin liquidations during this period totaled $163.4 million, with most of the losses impacting short traders.
Ethereum and Altcoins Also Face Losses
That same day, Bitcoin liquidations reached a three-year high as a sudden BTC price drop hit a key market target. These liquidations followed the $1.1 billion in total crypto liquidations on December 5, which marked the largest liquidation event since December 2021, attributed to major holders experiencing a “leverage flush”.
Meanwhile, today’s liquidations were not confined to Bitcoin alone. Other cryptocurrencies also endured substantial losses, as the crypto market continued to defy investors’ expectations with its unpredictable behavior.
CoinGlass reported that Ethereum traders suffered approximately $44 million in liquidations. Among altcoins, Solana SOL $115.2 24h volatility: 11.7% Market cap: $58.94 B Vol. 24h: $7.62 B , Ethena ENA $0.31 24h volatility: 14.6% Market cap: $1.63 B Vol. 24h: $313.54 M , and Arbitrum ARB $0.30 24h volatility: 7.7% Market cap: $1.40 B Vol. 24h: $212.21 M recorded losses of $9 million, $6 million, and $1.5 million, respectively. In total, other altcoins faced combined liquidations exceeding $44 million, with $30 million attributed to long traders.
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