The cryptocurrency market faced a wave of liquidations exceeding $1 billion in the past 24 hours, driven by Bitcoin’s sharp drop below the $100,000 mark. This downturn impacted more than 400,000 traders, marking a turbulent day for the market.
Data from CoinGlass reveals that a total of $1.18 billion was liquidated during this period, with $921 million coming from long positions and $260 million from short positions. Among the assets affected, Ether (ETH) led the market with over $207.5 million in long liquidations, closely followed by Bitcoin (BTC) with $202 million.
Bitcoin’s Sharp Decline
Bitcoin experienced a significant drop of over 6%, falling from an intraday high of $106,300 to approximately $99,700 on January 19. This mirrors a previous sell-off on January 7, which saw Bitcoin drop sharply before bottoming out at just over $90,000 by January 13.
Prominent crypto trader “Bluntz” highlighted concerns on X, noting the presence of “top signs everywhere” and suggesting it might be time for investors to “take some chips off the table.”
Altcoins Follow Bitcoin’s Slide
Altcoins also faced steep losses. Ether (ETH) dropped over 5%, reaching an intraday low of $3,150, although it remains within its month-long trading range. Other major tokens, including XRP, Dogecoin, Cardano, Avalanche, Sui, and Stellar (XLM), experienced double-digit losses, adding to the broader market downturn.
Memecoin Frenzy Hits a Wall
The excitement surrounding Donald Trump’s newly launched memecoin quickly evaporated as the token plunged over 40% on January 20. This came after the token soared to a fully diluted valuation of $70 billion just a day earlier. The crash coincided with the launch of Melania Trump’s namesake token, which briefly reached a peak valuation of over $13 billion on January 19 before cooling off.
As volatility persists, market participants are left grappling with the aftermath of a dramatic day in crypto trading, underscoring the risks in this highly speculative market.