tl;dr
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other top cryptocurrencies experienced a sudden price plunge on Friday afternoon, resulting in almost $300 million worth of liquidated long positions. This includes $285 million in long positions and $12 million in short positions within the last hour. Bitcoin dropped from ove...
Cryptocurrency market experiences sudden plunge, resulting in significant liquidations and potential impact from Fed rates - Bitcoin and Ethereum prices plummet, while meme coins also see significant losses - Despite widespread losses, select cryptocurrencies show minor gains amid market turbulence.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other top cryptocurrencies experienced a sudden price plunge on Friday afternoon, resulting in almost $300 million worth of liquidated long positions. This includes $285 million in long positions and $12 million in short positions within the last hour. Bitcoin dropped from over $71,000 to under $69,000 in about 40 minutes, while Ethereum fell from $3,800 to under $3,650. The crypto market attributed this to the potential impact of higher Fed rates and the approval of spot Ethereum ETFs, leading to increased open interest for Ethereum futures. Meme coins like Solana-based BONK, Dogwifhat, and Ethereum-based Pepe posted significant losses. Despite widespread losses, some tokens, like ORDI and Filecoin, showed slight increases. The story was updated after publication.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other top cryptocurrencies plunged in price suddenly Friday afternoon, yielding a still-growing pile of liquidations that includes almost $300 million worth of long positions. Some $285 million worth of crypto long positions have been liquidated across the board in the last hour alone, per data from CoinGlass, along with $12 million in short positions. Expanded out daily, there's $399 million worth of long position liquidations over the past 24 hours, plus $47 million in shorts. Bitcoin dipped from a price above $71,000 to under $69,000 in a matter of about 40 minutes, while Ethereum plunged from $3,800 to under $3,650. Both coins are starting to rebound. Earlier in the day, the crypto market had shrugged off hotter-than-expected jobs data from the U.S. Labor Department.
"Hard assets are suffering due to the potential impact of Fed rates being 'higher for longer,'" Amberdata's Director of Derivatives Greg Magadini told Decrypt, pointing to Friday's labor figures. He added that after the approval of spot Ethereum ETFs, there was a notable increase in open interest for Ethereum futures. That could push prices further down as leverage is unwound, Magadini stated, if there's no "follow-through" with Ethereum prices to meet longs positioned to the upside. Among cryptocurrencies, meme coins posted outsized losses Friday. The Solana-based BONK had fallen 9% over the past hour to $0.00002745, showing a 16.7% decrease in price over the past day. Dogwifhat and the Ethereum-based Pepe had each fallen 13% during that same span. Meanwhile, major Wall Street stock indexes were comparatively less turbulent. The S&P 500 had edged up 0.07% midday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite had fallen slightly.
The jolt to Bitcoin’s price pushed the asset below $70,000, crossing a psychological threshold that it had overcome earlier this week. In March, the price of Bitcoin set a new all-time high above $73,700, pushed to new heights not long after the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs. Though losses in the crypto market were widespread on Friday afternoon, there were pockets of green. The Bitcoin-based BRC-20 token ORDI had increased 1.7% over the past day, while the decentralized storage protocol Filecoin’s native token had increased around 1% to $6.03. Editor's note: This story is was updated after publication with additional detail.
DAILY DEBRIEF NEWSLETTER Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Your Email Get it! Get it! AD Your gateway into the world of Web3. Partner News Deep Dives University Coins Videos Event Calendar News Explorer Bitcoin Halving About Team Disclosures Manifesto Terms of Service Code of Conduct 1000x Member Terms of Service Privacy Policy Contact Careers Jobs Shop SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER The latest news, articles, and resources, sent to your inbox weekly. Subscribe © A next-generation media company. 2024 Decrypt Media, Inc.