The crypto market wiped out over $1.1 billion in trader positions in just 24 hours. Both long and short traders took heavy losses, but long positions accounted for the bulk of the liquidation. A massive $1.03 billion came from longs, while shorts saw $155.02 million erased.

The liquidation frenzy wasn’t limited to one or two assets. Bitcoin and Ethereum took the hardest hits, but altcoins were also slammed. Traders who ventured into leveraged bets faced a brutal reckoning as the market’s sudden swings triggered margin calls and automatic sell-offs.

Bitcoin and Ethereum dominate liquidations

Bitcoin led the liquidation carnage with $245.22 million wiped out, while Ethereum followed closely, losing $223.09 million. Dogecoin saw $58.82 million in positions liquidated, XRP suffered $48.24 million in losses, and Solana wasn’t spared either, with $39.56 million gone.

The biggest single liquidation involved an ETH/USDT position on Binance worth $15.80 million. Binance was the busiest platform for liquidations, processing $199.95 million in total. Of that, $183.85 million came from long positions, while shorts accounted for $16.10 million.

Bybit followed with $84.92 million in liquidations, $75.06 million of which were longs. The data highlights how traders on these platforms were largely betting on price increases, only to be burned by rapid market corrections.

Breaking it down by timeframes, the last 24 hours saw $1.19 billion in liquidations. Within 12 hours, $516.17 million had been wiped out. Zooming into shorter periods, $437.28 million disappeared in just four hours, and $279.90 million vanished in a single hour.

Why is the market getting slammed?

We have the US Federal Reserve to thank for this market bloodbath. Yesterday, chairman Jerome Powell announced that there would be very few if any, rate cuts next year. Within hours, Bitcoin had fallen from $100k all the way below $100k.

Bitcoin’s long-term holders, who typically hold Bitcoin for over 155 days, have been selling their stash too. Data from Glassnode shows their supply dropped to $13.31 billion, down from $14.23 billion two months ago. This coincided with Bitcoin’s price climbing from $58,000 to over $100,000.

Short-term holders are stepping in, absorbing the selling pressure from long-term investors. Their buying activity has kept Bitcoin’s price above the six-figure mark, even as some traders take profits. The balance between these two groups is critical to Bitcoin’s price momentum.

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