The past 24 hours have been filled with twists and turns for the crypto market, but one thing that is important is that bitcoin has crossed $19,000. This would be the first time the digital asset would reach this price since the collapse of the FTX triggered another market drop. However, as always, such sudden moves in the market would lead to liquidations, and traders are feeling the heat.
Crypto Liquidations Exceed $200 Million
Liquidations have increased in the past day, with traders losing more than $200 million. This was a result of the bounce following the release of the CPI data and subsequent corrections that happened just as quickly.
Since the CPI data came in exactly as expected at 6.5%, it meant there was a flush between shorts and longs, and this flush is also present in the ratio of liquidations. Dates from Mint glass shows that while short traders still suffer the most losses, the gap with longs isn’t as large, as shorts accounted for 58% of losses.
Market liquidations cross $200 million | Source: Coinglass
Still, this is significant in the market and if bitcoin were to continue its upward rally, it is likely that the gap between long and short losses would widen much wider.
It’s also important to note that most of the liquidations actually happened on Thursday, just a few hours after the CPI release. Over 39,000 traders have seen their positions liquidated with the largest liquidation event on the ETH-USDT-SWAP on the OKX exchange.
Bitcoin, Ethereum tie for liquidations
Over a 24-hour period, bitcoin liquidations have surpassed Ethereum’s, just by a small amount. Where 4,230 BTC have been liquidated, culminating in a total loss of $79.56 million over the period, 51,000 ETH has been liquidated, worth $71.79 million.
As bitcoin price appears to have settled into a support above $18,000 over the past 12 hours, ETH liquidations have taken the lead with $9.08 million lost to date compared to BTC’s $8.23 million for same period. There have been more swings in the price of ETH during this period, which is driving more liquidations.
ETH liquidations surpass BTC liquidations | Source: Coinglass
Since bitcoin has now moved above its 50-day moving average, but is still struggling with its 100-day MA, there could be some wild swings before the crypto market finally settles down. From here, it is likely an upward move for a correction back to the $17,000 area.
BTC is currently trading at USD 18,800 at the time of writing. It is up 4% in the last 24 hours and 12.12% in seven days.
BTC price rises above $19,000 for the first time since FTX collapse | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com