Sudden Crypto Volatility Spurs $216M in Losses, Liquidating Both Long and Short Positions

Quick swings in cryptocurrency prices on Friday wiped out traders of both long and short positions, totaling $216 million of losses in liquidations over the past 24 hours, CoinGlass data shows.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $31,200 early Friday, before quickly plunging to as low as $29,470, CoinDesk Indices data shows, as traders reacted to the news about the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deeming recent filings for spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds inadequate.

After that initial shock, BTC stabilized at around $30,000 and by press time had begun to recoup some losses, returning to just shy of $30.5000. Other cryptocurrencies largely followed BTC’s price action in both directions.

The volatility wiped out more than 68,000 traders, per CoinGlass, liquidating $116 million of long (bets on higher prices) and $100 million of short (bets on lower prices) positions. Liquidations happen when an exchange closes leveraged positions due to a partial or total loss of the initial margin because the trader doesn’t have enough funds to keep the position open.

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 token almost tripled its price in June and experienced a resurgence in trading activity after being one of the four assets listed on EDX Markets, a new crypto exchange backed by traditional finance heavyweights Citadel, Fidelity and Schwab.

The largest single liquidation order happened on the Bybit exchange, a BTC-USD position valued at $4.57 million.