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Crypto Traders Suffer Over $100M of Short Liquidations as Bitcoin Hits 3-Month High Over $31K

BTC surged past $31,000 and other cryptocurrency prices soared sharply Monday, too, taking many leveraged traders by surprise.

Oct 23, 2023, 6:57 p.m.
Crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours (CoinGlass)
Crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours (CoinGlass)

Cryptocurrency derivatives traders have endured over $150 million of liquidations over the past 24 hours as rapidly surging digital asset prices caught many market participants off-guard.

Most of the positions wiped out – worth some $110 million – were leveraged shorts, or traders who bet that prices would fall, CoinGlass data shows. This was the second-largest amount of short liquidations in any day since late August.

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Bitcoin [BTC] traders were hit by $55 million of liquidations, predominantly those who shorted its price, followed by ether [ETH] traders' roughly $29 million of liquidations, per CoinGlass. Chainlink [LINK] speculators also suffered over $9 million in liquidations as LINK hit its highest price since May 2022.

The liquidations occurred as bitcoin rallied 4% to surpass the $31,000 price level for the first time since July, extending its October advance. Most of the alternative cryptocurrencies, or altcoins, also soared, with Chainlink's LINK, Polygon [MATIC] and Polkadot [DOT] posting 6% to 10% advances at one point.

Liquidations happen when an exchange closes a leveraged trading position due to a partial or total loss of the trader's initial money down, or "margin," because the trader fails to meet the margin requirements or doesn't have enough funds to keep the position open.

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Crypto market drowns in red as bitcoin falls to $68,000

bitcoin price chart (Behnam Norouzi/Unsplash/Modified by CoinDesk)

Traders are bracing for a heavy week of macroeconomic events, including Fed minutes and the core PCE inflation report.

Що варто знати:

  • Bitcoin wilts, pushing the broader market into the red.
  • Losses have hit 85 out of the top 100 tokens.
  • The sell-off comes despite weaker U.S. inflation data that strengthened expectations for at least two Federal Reserve rate cuts.
  • Traders are bracing for a heavy week of macroeconomic events, including Fed minutes and the core PCE inflation report.