TL;DR
-
Bitcoin recorded its biggest loss in months after dropping towards the $25k region on Thursday.
-
The total cryptocurrency market cap could fall below $1 trillion as altcoins also recorded a sharp sell-off.
Crypto Traders Lose $1B As Bitcoin’s Price Tanked
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, suffered its heaviest loss in months. BTC lost nearly 10% of its value on Thursday night, dropping to the $25,300 level in the process.
Prior to its dump, Bitcoin was holding its price just above the $29k level. However, the massive sell-off resulted in long traders losing roughly $1 billion within the span of an hour.
According to data obtained from CoinGlass, Bitcoin traders lost $472 million in long liquidations, followed by Ether, which wiped out $302 million in less than an hour.
There was no catalyst behind yesterday’s massive selloff but recent Chinese economic worries and bond yields surging to multi-year highs spelt trouble for the cryptocurrency market.
Bitcoin has slightly recovered and is now trading above $26,400 per coin. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, also dropped to the sub $1,500 region on Thursday. At press time, the price of Ether stands at $1,679, down by 6% in the last 24 hours.
XRP was the worst performer amongst the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, losing more than 16% of its value in the last 24 hours. XRP’s massive selloff can be attributed to a combination of the broader market’s bearish trend and a judge allowing the SEC to file an appeal in the Ripple Labs dispute.
The total cryptocurrency market cap also tanked by nearly 7% in the last 24 hours and currently stands at $1.06 trillion.