Bitcoin (BTC) has dropped 7% in the past 24 hours, falling to levels not seen since June as the digital-asset market experienced one of the worst sell-offs of 2021. According to CoinGlass data, crypto traders were hit with $1 billion worth of liquidations over the past 24 hours. At the time of writing, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value was trading at around $26,400, but briefly dropped to $25,234 on Thursday. Altcoins performed slightly better, with Ether (ETH) losing 6% and Solana’s SOL losing around 5%.
We’ve seen BTC OI ramp up in position, with a bias to shorts, said Decentral Park Capital trader Lewis Harland. The break below $28,500 led to material volumes of longs being liquidated. This has been combined with spot selling ahead of the date (likely anticipating further delays).
Creditors of bankrupt crypto firm Celsius will vote on the lender’s plan to sell assets to the Fahrenheit consortium, after a judge approved disclosures that suggested creditors can expect to recover 67%-85% of holdings. This marks one of the final steps on Celsius’ year-long march out of bankruptcy and the return of funds to customers.
Bloomberg reported on Thursday that securities regulators are poised to approve Ether futures ETFs for the U.S. Several firms have applied to list these exchange-traded funds, which would hold derivatives contracts tied to Ether – rather than Ether itself. The industry is also awaiting word on whether ETFs that hold Bitcoin itself, not derivatives, might also get approval.