Cryptocurrency traders experienced a wild ride on Friday, with quick swings in prices resulting in $216 million of losses in liquidations over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data. Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $31,200 before quickly plunging to as low as $29,470, CoinDesk Indices data shows. This volatility wiped out more than 68,000 traders, with $116 million of long positions and $100 million of short positions liquidated. BTC traders endured $65 million of losses, mostly liquidating longs, followed by Ether (ETH) traders with $36 million of mostly short liquidations. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was responsible for $22 million of liquidations. The largest single liquidation order happened on the Bybit exchange, a BTC-USD position valued at $4.57 million.
The initial shock was likely due to news about the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deeming recent filings for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds inadequate. After that, BTC stabilized at around $30,000 and by press time had begun to recoup some losses, returning to just shy of $30,500. Other cryptocurrencies largely followed BTC’s price action in both directions.