Cryptocurrency prices tumbled Monday amid the global stock market sell-off as investors fled risk assets. The price of bitcoin rebounded slightly by late Monday after sweeping to lowest price since February, while ethereum slashed its gains year.
Crypto prices swooned as Friday's sell-off continued through the weekend with losses worsening by late Sunday. Over the past 24 hours, crypto-tracked futures recorded over $1.19 billion in liquidations, Coinglass data showed.
Bitcoin futures recorded $421.1 million in liquidated trades to lead losses at the time of writing, followed by ethereum at $375 million. Futures tracking solana, dogecoin and ripple recorded a combined $95.8 million in liquidations.
Over 312,700 traders were liquidated during that period, according to Coinglass. The largest single liquidated order was a BTC/USD trade worth $27 million on the Singapore-based Huobi exchange.
Market In 'Panic Mode'
Gracy Chen, CEO of Seychelles-based exchange Bitget, wrote in a note that the market is in a "panic" mode as mainstream crypto assets have fallen sharply.
"The global economy is alerted with geopolitical tensions and the U.S. economy is facing recession pressure," Chen wrote, noting the U.S. stock market fell for three consecutive trading days. Meanwhile, the Japanese stock market has been "in a circuit breaker" for two consecutive trading days. VXX, which tracks Wall Street's fear gauge, the Cboe Volatility Index, soared 27% in a single day according to Chen, which indicates the macro financial market is under great pressure for a correction, causing wider market selling.
Institutions have also played a role in the sell-off, Chen said. Berkshire Hathaway sold off Apple and Bank of America stock in the last 12 trading days to bolster its cash horde, which affects overall sentiment. On the crypto front, market maker Jump Crypto sold ethereum after its analysts bet on a decline after spot ETF approvals.
"Before the market forms a true bullish drive, it needs to experience a sharp decline to reduce the long positions of the contracts in order to reduce the selling pressure for future rises," Chen said, based on historical trends. "At present, the core key to affecting the market trend is the sentiment index. If VXX starts to fall, it means that panic sentiment has eased."
Bitcoin Price And Crypto Action
Bitcoin rebounded to $53,800 late Monday after dropping as low as $49,314 in the morning, CoinDesk Indices data shows. Monday's drop pushed bitcoin back to its lowest level since February.
Bitcoin has pared its gains on the year to 22% after hitting a record high of $73,798 on March 14.
Ethereum traded near $2,240 Monday afternoon, up slightly from its morning low of $2,128. Ethereum is now up only 6% in 2024 as the move erased most of its rally on the year. ETH hit a 52-week high of $4,092 on March 14. But the No. 2 crypto was, and still is, well below its November 2021 peak above $4,800.
Coinbase pared losses to 7.3% Monday after unraveling nearly 18% in early trade. Shares retreated Friday following its Q2 report late Thursday.
Bitcoin miners Iris Energy fell 2.8% Monday and CleanSpark carved 9.6% lower after both stocks tumbled more than 22% after the opening bell.
Marathon Digital pared its decline to 1.4% Monday while Hut 8 and Core Scientific fell 6.5% and 7.5%, respectively. MARA stock, HUT and CORZ shares saw losses range from 17% to 21% in early trade.
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