Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) futures traders took on some of the largest losses in over a month as prices moved under support levels in the past two days, breaking down from a period of stagnancy. Bitcoin slumped to just under $28,500 late on Wednesday, marking one of the largest two-day price drops since mid-June. This caused majors such as ether, XRP and Solana (SOL) to follow suit, falling as much as 5%.
Liquidations on futures tracking major tokens crossed the $160 million mark in the past 24 hours, pushing to over $320 million in losses since the start of this week. This comes amid one of the lowest volatility periods for Bitcoin. Bitcoin futures racked up nearly $50 million in losses, followed by ether at $22 million and Litecoin (LTC) at $5 million. Traders of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Solana, and XRP took on nearly $4.5 million in losses apiece.
Long trades, or bets on higher prices, accounted for 90% of the total liquidations, according to Coinglass data. Liquidation occurs when an exchange forcefully closes a trader’s leveraged position due to a partial or total loss of the trader’s initial margin. Open interest, or the number of unsettled contracts, rose 1.16%, suggesting lesser risk-on sentiment.
Trading firm QCP Capital said in a Telegram broadcast earlier this week that it expected prices to gradually fall lower in the immediate absence of market catalysts. It added that price levels of between $24,000 to $26,000 for Bitcoin could be expected in the coming months.
Bitcoin and ether futures traders have suffered major losses in the past two days, with liquidations on futures tracking major tokens crossing the $160 million mark in the past 24 hours. Bitcoin slumped to just under $28,500 late on Wednesday, causing majors such as ether, XRP and Solana (SOL) to follow suit, falling as much as 5%. Long trades, or bets on higher prices, accounted for 90% of the total liquidations, according to Coinglass data. Open interest, or the number of unsettled contracts, rose 1.16%, suggesting lesser risk-on sentiment. Trading firm QCP Capital predicted prices to gradually fall lower in the immediate absence of market catalysts.