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Bitcoin Dip Causes $6.5 Billion in Liquidations as Analysts Consider Local Top

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Monday trading turns into a blood bath, causing massive crypto price fluctuations.

Bitcoin Sees $2.3 Billion in Liquidations as Analysts Consider Price Top
Shutterstock image by Dim Dimich

Key Takeaways

  • Bitcoin price crashed below $50,000 this morning, causing the crypto market to lose $200 billion in total market capitalization.
  • The crash from Bitcoin and Ethereum's peak on Saturday has seen $6.5 billion in liquidations across crypto markets.
  • Technical and on-chain indicators points towards a local top in Bitcoin.

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Bitcoin’s roller-coaster ride took a downturn Monday as BTC dropped 18% to lows of $46,700 on Coinbase, causing rampant liquidations across derivatives markets.

The Bitcoin Top Debate

An $11,000 massive correction drove Bitcoin below $46,700 on Coinbase.

Between 9 and 10 am this morning, $2.37 billion margin positions got liquidated throughout the crypto markets. The total liquidation in the last 24-hours amount is $4 billion, and the crypto market has recorded over $6.5 billion in liquidations since an all-time high of $57,000 reached on Saturday.

The bottom was different across crypto exchanges. European exchange Bitstamp crashed during the drop, and the last recorded low on the exchange is $47,400.

On Bitmex, the low was $47,500 as well, while Kraken revealed a significant lack of liquidity with a drop to $45,000 BTC. 

BTC/USD hourly chart on Coinbase. Source: Trading View

U.S. Treasury Secretary’s comment acted as the perfect catalyst for the sudden plunge. Yellen deemed Bitcoin inefficient and raised illicit financing concerns yet again. 

On Tuesday, Bitcoin broke above $50,000 for the first time and hit an ATH on Saturday. Ethereum also broke above $2,000 for the first time on Feb. 20. 

A comparatively smaller drop late on Saturday caused $2.5 billion in liquidations. Bitcoin touched lows of $54,000 that day, while ETH to $1810.

Quick recovery to opening prices may indicate that buyers quickly bought the dip, but the price action is also a textbook top indicator. 

Last Chance to Sell Bitcoin? 

The price charts of all cryptocurrencies, especially altcoins, paints a painful picture for traders. The drastic drop hunted crypto long-orders and caused liquidations worth $2.37 billion.

The wick or shadow marks the top and bottom in the stipulated time period, representing the price fluctuations relative to its opening and closing price. 

A longer wick indicates a large fluctuation in the asset price. This morning most cryptocurrencies painted a classic “hanging man.” A hanging man candlestick in an uptrend represents heavy selling, which may mark the asset’s local top. 

The dormancy flow metric, which measures the flow of ‘HODLer’ tokens relative to the on-chain volume, has entered the overbought region as well. In 2019, the dormancy flow marked the top around $14,000, while in 2017, the ratio was over-extended for most of the year.

If the flow continues to increase, with buyers failing to keep up the price, Bitcoin could drop further to retest the previous high of $42,000.

bitcoin dive
Bitcoin entry adjusted dormancy flow. Source: Glassnode

The struggle between the bulls and bears in the next couple of weeks will be instrumental in setting the mid to long-term price as BTC reaches a crucial point.

Disclosure: The author held Bitcoin at the time of press. 

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