Sunday’s bitcoin flash crash wiped out $10 billion worth of positions
bitcoin flash crash provoked massive liquidation of positions; cryptocurrency market capitalization sank by almost $4 billion
Bitcoin’s fall to local lows of $51,400 led to a massive liquidation of positions. During the day, market capitalization collapsed by almost $4 billion and the market lost positions by almost $10 billion.
Sunday’s bitcoin flash crash
In morning trading on Sunday, April 18, bitcoin (BTC) fell to $51,541. Thus, in less than a day, the first cryptocurrency has fallen more than $10,000 and tested its lowest since March 26. At the time of writing, BTC/USD managed to get back above $57,000. Despite the recovery, the coin is still in the red zone on a daily (-8%) and weekly (-4%) basis.
$10 billion wiped off the face of the earth
According to Bybt, a massive correction in the market overnight resulted in the liquidation of more than 1 million positions worth $9.8 billion. Bitcoin accounted for more than half of all liquidations ($5.1 billion). The largest single liquidation occurred in the bitcoin pair on Binance at $68.7 million.
Although the market quickly recouped a significant portion of the losses, 92% of the liquidations were in long positions. This means that the main losses were incurred by buyers. Nearly half of all liquidations to the tune of $4.8 billion occurred on Binance, the largest cryptocurrency trading platform. Huobi came in second with $1.7 billion in liquidations.
The previous major liquidation in the market occurred on March 15, 2021. At that time, bitcoin’s flash crash from $60,000 to $55,000 cost the market $2.4 billion.
Altcoins also suffered.
Bitcoin accounted for the lion’s share of liquidations, but other coins were also badly affected. ETH liquidated $1.1 billion worth of positions during a day, while XRP liquidations reached $461 million.
In price terms, almost all coins from the top 10 have suffered double-digit losses. Bitcoin Cash suffered the most (-18%). XRP and Litecoin lost more than 15% overnight.
