Crypto Bulls See $1 Billion Squeeze as Bitcoin, Altcoins Crash

Data shows the cryptocurrency long investors have suffered a massive beating in the past day as Bitcoin and the altcoins have plunged.

Bitcoin Briefly Broke Under $103,000 During The Crash

The cryptocurrency market has been shocked in the past day as Bitcoin and altcoins have all gone through a drawdown of some degree. At present, BTC is down about 2%, but its decline was more severe earlier in the day.

Below is a chart that shows how the asset’s recent performance has been like.

From the graph, it’s apparent that Bitcoin briefly slipped below $103,000 during the crash. Following a rebound, the cryptocurrency’s price is now back at $104,800.

The negative price action has generally been sharper for the other assets in the sector, with the likes of Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA) observing losses exceeding 7%.

The bearish wave in the market has come as tensions have spiked in the Middle East following Israel’s airstrikes on Iran, with fears of further escalation weighing on investor sentiment.

Like with any other volatile event in the cryptocurrency sector, the latest sharp price action has also accompanied chaos on the derivatives side.

Crypto Liquidations Have Crossed $1 Billion In Last 24 Hours

According to data from CoinGlass, the cryptocurrency market has faced a massive amount of liquidations over the past day. “Liquidation” refers to the forceful closure that any open contract undergoes after it has gone underwater by a specific percentage (as defined by the platform).

Here is a table that shows how the digital asset liquidation numbers have looked for the last 24 hours:

As is visible above, the cryptocurrency sector has seen a total of $1.13 billion in liquidations inside this window. Out of these, $1 billion of the contracts involved were long positions. That is, they were betting on a bullish outcome for the market.

Naturally, the latest price action would have caught these investors off-guard, which is why such a large number of them have been wrapped up in the liquidation event.

An event like this where a large number of contracts get flushed is popularly known as a squeeze. Since longs occupied an overwhelming majority in the latest squeeze, the event would be called a long squeeze.

Below is a table that shows how the contribution from the individual symbols has looked for this liquidation squeeze.

Bitcoin and Ethereum have been top of the list like usual, with $451 million and $300 million in liquidations, respectively. Among the altcoins, Solana has stood out for its $53 million share in the squeeze.