Bitcoin Slips to $82k as Leveraged Traders Lose $1.7B in 24 Hours

TL;DR

• BTC has lost 6.7% of its value in the last 24 hours and is now trading around $82,300 per coin.

• The bearish performance resulted in $1.7 billion worth of leveraged positions being wiped out from the broader cryptocurrency market.

BTC Slips to $82k as Total Market Cap Sheds Over $200B in 24 hours

The cryptocurrency market had one of its worst performance since the October 10 deleveraging event, with Bitcoin losing nearly 7% of its value in the last 24 hours. 

At press time, Bitcoin is trading above $82,300, with altcoins recording bigger losses in the last few hours. 

Analysts believe that the sell-off was driven less by new bearish sentiment than by overcrowded leverage unwinding, flushing out speculative excess and reducing forced flows in the market.

Data obtained from CoinGlass reveals that $1.70 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out from the crypto market in the last 24 hours. Roughly 267,370 traders were forced out of positions, with longs accounting for an overwhelming $1.59 billion, or nearly 93% of total liquidations. Meanwhile, shorts made up just $114 million of the liquidation total.

CoinGlass’s website added that Bitcoin and ether led the damage. BTC alone saw about $780 million in liquidations, while ETH followed with more than $414 million, per liquidation heatmap data. 

Liquidations occur when leveraged traders can no longer meet margin requirements, and exchanges forcibly close positions to prevent further losses.

Altcoins Record Bigger Losses

While Bitcoin is down 6.7% in the last 24 hours, altcoins recorded even bigger losses during that period. Ether is down by nearly 8% and is struggling to stay above $2,700.

Ripple’s XRP has dipped below the $1.81 support level and now trades at $1.73, while Binance’s BNB risks dropping below $800 if the selloff persists.

Tron’s TRX is the least affected among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, as it is down by only 1%. Thanks to the latest bearish performance, the total cryptocurrency market cap has now dropped to $2.82 trillion.