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▲ Bitcoin (BTC) sharp drop ©
As Bitcoin (BTC) sharply dropped below $80,000, over $400 million in long (buy) positions were forcibly liquidated in the cryptocurrency market in just four hours. With funds flowing out of US Bitcoin spot ETFs for two consecutive days, and BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes even announcing that he had exited his positions, market concerns about a downturn are growing.
According to crypto media outlet The Block on October 24 (local time), a total of $436.44 million worth of positions were liquidated in the cryptocurrency market during a four-hour period until 1 PM (US Eastern Time) that day, based on CoinGlass data. Of this, long position liquidations amounted to $404.15 million, accounting for approximately 92.6% of the total. Specifically, between 10:15 AM and 10:30 AM, as Bitcoin fell from approximately $80,640 to $80,100, $208.21 million in long positions were liquidated, and an additional $131.17 million was liquidated between 11:15 AM and 11:30 AM. Bitcoin fell to around $79,280 by 11:20 AM before rebounding to $80,138 by 1 PM.
The total liquidation volume over the past 24 hours surged by 218% compared to the previous day, reaching $815.26 million, affecting a total of 201,012 traders. Cryptocurrency futures Open Interest decreased by 2.2% during the same period, recording $140.1 billion. Bitcoin fell by 1.9% over 24 hours, while Ethereum (ETH) traded at $2,314, down 3.8%. Ethereum liquidations over four hours amounted to $136.72 million, close to Bitcoin's $158.45 million. This is a relatively large liquidation volume, considering Ethereum's market capitalization is only about 18% of Bitcoin's. The proportion of long positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum liquidations reached 94.2% and 92.7%, respectively.
Institutional investor fund flows also worsened. According to SoSoValue, US Bitcoin spot ETFs saw net outflows of $635.49 million on Thursday and $137.94 million on Friday, totaling approximately $773.43 million over two days. On Friday, BlackRock's IBIT experienced a net outflow of $110.34 million, and Fidelity's FBTC saw $31.78 million in net outflows. However, due to net inflows of $1.078 billion from Monday to Wednesday, a weekly net inflow of $304.73 million was maintained. Ethereum spot ETFs recorded a weekly net outflow of $220.60 million, with funds exiting on 14 out of 17 trading days in October, bringing the cumulative net outflow to $1.175 billion.
Another factor that fueled market instability was Arthur Hayes' sell-off announcement. Hayes announced on his X (formerly Twitter) account that he had closed all directional investment positions for his family office Maelstrom, stating, "I dumped it all." He explained that he had realized profits from Ethereum, Ethena (ENA), Uniswap (UNI), and others, and predicted, "It seems like we need to go down before we can go up." He added that macroeconomic and geopolitical situations are unstable, and he would observe the market until signs of stability emerge.
Hayes did not specify the geopolitical risks, but the Associated Press reported that the US State Department is reducing staff at US embassies in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates due to an increased threat of Iranian attacks against Americans. Amid a sell-off in tech stocks and rising tensions in the Middle East, coupled with outflows from Bitcoin spot ETFs and large-scale leveraged liquidations, vigilance against short-term volatility in the cryptocurrency market is increasing.
*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*
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