- March 15, 2024
- Posted by: [email protected]
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In a tumultuous turn of events, the cryptocurrency market, led by Bitcoin, witnessed a stark decline during the early hours of Friday, reverting sharply from its recent all-time highs. Bitcoin, the bellwether of the digital asset space, is currently grappling with a trading price below the significant threshold of $68,000, marking a substantial decline of approximately 7.5% within a mere 24-hour period. This sudden downturn in price sent shockwaves across the ecosystem, triggering a cascade of liquidations that amounted to an eye-watering sum of over $657 million within the aforementioned timeframe.
Delving deeper into the specifics, data sourced from Coinglass reveals that the liquidations predominantly targeted long positions, with an astonishing sum exceeding $522 million wiped out. Simultaneously, short positions faced their own reckoning, with approximately $137 million liquidated during the tumultuous trading period. Notably, Bitcoin longs bore the brunt of these liquidations, with a staggering $216 million being wiped out. Unsurprisingly, the lion’s share of these liquidations unfolded on major exchanges such as Binance and OKX, where liquidations tallied up to $248 million and $236 million, respectively.
The ripple effects of Bitcoin’s downward spiral were felt beyond its own realm, extending to other major cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, mirrored Bitcoin’s trajectory, slipping below the psychologically significant $4,000 mark to trade at $3,700, reflecting a decline of nearly 7.3% within the same 24-hour timeframe.
Meanwhile, amidst the turmoil in the spot market, the activity within Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) painted a complex picture. On March 14, Bitcoin spot ETFs witnessed a net inflow of $132 million, indicating continued investor interest despite the prevailing market volatility. However, amidst this influx, Grayscale ETF GBTC faced a stark single-day net outflow of $257 million, highlighting some investors’ cautious stance amidst the market turmoil.
Despite this, the BlackRock ETF IBIT emerged as a beacon of bullish sentiment, garnering the largest single-day net inflow of $345 million. This influx propelled the historical net inflow of IBIT to an impressive $12.37 billion, underscoring sustained investor confidence in Bitcoin’s long-term prospects. Additionally, the VanEck ETF HODL recorded a single-day net inflow of approximately $137 million, contributing to a total historical net inflow of $364 million.
This flurry of activity within Bitcoin ETFs underscores the evolving dynamics of institutional participation in the cryptocurrency market, with March 12 witnessing an unprecedented surge in net inflows totaling a staggering $1.05 billion. This historic milestone serves as a testament to the growing institutional adoption and recognition of Bitcoin as a legitimate asset class, even amidst periods of heightened volatility and uncertainty.
