It has been a tumultuous hour for the crypto market as more than $460 million worth of long positions were liquidated due to a sudden 8% drop in Bitcoin’s price. Rumors of a potential delay in the SEC’s approval of a spot ETF triggered panic among investors, resulting in significant losses.
The Impact of Liquidations
According to CoinGlass, the past hour alone witnessed a staggering $462 million in losses for long traders on major centralized exchanges. In the past 24 hours, a total of 172,626 traders faced liquidation, with long liquidations accounting for $557 million and short liquidations totaling approximately $58 million.
Among the centralized exchanges, OKX took the largest hit, with liquidations surpassing $230 million. Binance and Huobi followed closely behind, with liquidations amounting to $105 million and $74 million, respectively.
Bitcoin Futures and Ethereum Futures
Significant liquidations were observed in Bitcoin-tracked futures and Ethereum-linked futures as well. Bitcoin futures experienced a combined $110 million in both short and long liquidations over the past day, while Ethereum futures saw liquidations exceeding $82 million.
The current wave of liquidations coincides with Bitcoin’s plummet to a low of $40,000 following a report from Matrixport. The report suggested that the SEC is likely to reject spot Bitcoin ETF applications this month, prompting Matrixport to caution traders about their long positions.
“Matrix on Target projects a January rejection for Bitcoin Spot ETFs by the SEC, cautioning traders to hedge long exposure.” – Matrixport
As of now, Bitcoin is trading at $42,379, indicating a more than 6% decline in value over the past day.
