- Crypto market liquidations have soared over $2 billion amid intensifying selling pressure.
- Bitcoin’s breach of its key support on the way below $100K, quantum computing risks, major outflows in crypto ETFs, early BTC adopters selling, and a BTC DAT company dumping amplified the FUD.
Things took a turn for the worse mid-week as crypto market liquidations continued to pile up. In the last 24 hours, the numbers swelled to $2.04 billion based on Coinglass data. At past midnight on Wednesday, these consisted of $1.66 billion longs and only $392.72 million shorts.
ETH and BTC: The Biggest Losers in the Ongoing Crypto Market Liquidations
Ethereum (ETH) got the short end of the stick as it wrecked $660.64 million leveraged positions, accounting for $580.51 million longs and $80.12 million shorts. Bitcoin (BTC) followed with $618.33 million, comprised of $572.60 million longs and $45.73 million shorts.
Over 476,000 trades were affected by the event, with the highest single liquidation order worth $47.87 million occurring on the HTX crypto exchange platform under a BTC-USDT pair. Rumors have it that one of the positions liquidated belonged to the trader who made a killing during the over $19 billion single-day crypto market liquidations in early October.
The Catalysts of the FUD
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index continued to hover within the “Extreme Fear” territory as Bitcoin’s return below the $100,000 range for the first time since June dominated discussions. Analyst tagged the primary catalyst on several early Bitcoin adopters dumping their haul into the market, including a 10,000 BTC sell-off initiated by a member of this group for over $1 billion.
The situation eventually cascaded into automated liquidations of leveraged positions as BTC’s key support levels at $106K and $102K failed to hold. Panic selling followed from several retail and institutional holders, amplified by the long streak of outflows from spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers in the US during the past week.
Sequans Communications’ decision to sell 970 BTC to cover its debt after only four months of switching to a digital asset treasury (DAT) strategy also didn’t do the market any favors. Moreover, narratives about advancements in quantum computing have been gaining traction in the past few days again, which only added fuel to the BTC FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt).
The Bright Side
All these ignored US President Donald Trump’s assurance that he is committed to making the US the number one in the world when it comes to crypto. His statement came amid claims that China is getting “very big” into Bitcoin and crypto lately. It suggested another space race scenario, like in the Cold War, but with the US-China going head-to-head and blockchain as their venue this time.
Nonetheless, the crypto community clings to hope with the recent takes of 10x Research CEO Markus Thielen and Fundstrat founder Tom Lee, forecasting Bitcoin and Ether’s last-minute rally before 2025 ends.
Disclaimer: The facts presented in this article are only for informational purposes. They do not serve as financial advice or product recommendations from the author or the Blockzeit team.
