Bitcoin Dips Below $55k for the First Time Since February

TL;DR

• Bitcoin has recorded its biggest loss in months, dropping below $55k for the first time since February.

• The crypto market sees $665 million in daily liquidations following Bitcoin’s dip. 

BTC Dips Below $55k, Traders Suffer Liquidation

The cryptocurrency market is experiencing its worst week in months, with most coins down by double figures over the past few days. Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market cap, has lost more than 8% of its value in the last 24 hours.

At press time, Bitcoin is trading at $54,291, down by 11% so far this week. This is the first time Bitcoin dropped below $55k since February, with the bears firmly in control of the market at the moment.

The bearish performance can be attributed to the Mt. Gox and German government wallet movements. On Thursday, the German Federal Criminal Police Office moved over $75 million to crypto exchanges. This is the largest stash moved by the German government, raising fresh concerns amongst investors. 

Furthermore, Mt. Gox wallets, dormant for a month, showed activity with test transactions. The now-defunct crypto exchange moved roughly $2.7 billion worth of BTC and BCH, indicating that it could distribute some of its assets, putting further selling pressure on the market.

With this poor performance, the crypto market saw over $665.8 million in liquidations in the past 24 hours. According to data obtained from CoinGlass, a total of 230,541 traders were liquidated in the last couple of hours.

Bitcoin was the leading cryptocurrency in the liquidations, with over $222.1 million liquidated in the past 24 hours. CoinGlass revealed that among these bitcoin liquidations, about $181.8 million of them were long positions.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has dropped below $3k after losing 10% of its value. ETH traders also faced significant liquidations, with $163.4 million liquidated, of which $143.3 million were long positions.

Furthermore, the total cryptocurrency market cap has dropped below $2 trillion after losing 9% of its value in the last 24 hours. At press time, the total crypto market cap stands at $1.98 trillion.