Crypto sees over $300 million in liquidations as Bitcoin, altcoins plummet

Bitcoin price broke below $61,000 on Monday as bearish pressure intensified, and the market has seen over $320 million in total liquidations in 24 hours as a result.

With bulls unable to hold key price levels as BTC traded lower, today’s dip sees buyers staring at a potential dip to the psychologically important $60,000 level.

The bloodbath is also visible across the altcoin market as Ethereum failed to hold above the $3,300 level. Meanwhile, Solana, BNB and XRP all shed significant chunks of recent gains. Uniswap and Maker, down 12% and 9% in the past 24 hours, are the biggest losers among the top 50 coins by market.

Liquidations hit over $320 million in past 24 hours

As Bitcoin slumped past $62,000 on Monday, total liquidations across the crypto market moved past $300 million. 

With BTC below $61k and looking likely to extend losses, the annihilation of leveraged longs increased to over $324 million. More than $286 million are long positions, while $36 million are shorts.

According to data from Coinglass, nearly $132 million of the liquidations are for Bitcoin. 

Longs account for the vast majority of the rekt traders at nearly $122 million in 24 hours while liquidated short positions account for about $9.9 million.  Per the market data, over $95 million of the liquidated longs have come in the past 12 hours.

Overall, more than 85,440 traders have been liquidated in the past 24 hours. The largest single liquidation order within this period as of 12:30 pm ET on June 24 occurred on Binance – a $15.36 million burn on the BTC/USDT pair.

Why did Bitcoin price fall sharply today?

On June 24, the trustee of the bankrupt crypto exchange Mt. Gox announced that the long-awaited repayments for creditors will start in July. With over $9 billion in BTC with the defunct exchange and earmarked for distribution, investor reaction to the news was swift and biting.

Bitcoin price tumbled more than 5% after the news, breaking past support levels as fears of a potential sell-off pressure struck the market. The downward pressure also comes amid recent selling by a wallet linked to the German government.

Earlier this year, German police seized close to 50,000 BTC worth around $2.1 billion at the time.

Bitcoin’s gains over the past months meant the total value of the coins reached over $3 billion. But data from Arkham Intelligence shows the wallet has recently sold off a significant number of BTC, likely contributing to the selling.

Miners have also sold quite a chunk, with IntoTheBlock data showing about 30,000 BTC sold post-halving.