Bitcoin Tumbles Toward $62K as Crypto Bulls Face $150M in Liquidation
Bitcoin lost 3%, while ether (ETH), Cardano’s ADA, and BNB Chain’s BNB registered similar losses. Major cryptocurrencies experienced a significant drop of up to 7.5% in the past 24 hours.
Major Tokens See Sharp Declines
Bitcoin experienced a 3% drop, and other key cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Cardano, and Solana also saw steep declines. This downturn in the market led to the liquidation of over $150 million in bullish bets. Several factors, including large Bitcoin sales from miners and the German government moving significant amounts of BTC to exchanges, played a role in this decline.
Solana’s SOL dropped 7% to nearly $120 as of Monday morning. Meanwhile, popular meme coins like dogecoin (DOGE) and shiba inu (SHIB) declined by nearly 5%.
CoinDesk 20 Tracks Decline
The CoinDesk 20 (CD20), which monitors major tokens except for stablecoins, slumped by just over 4%. This substantial drop caused long positions—bets on prices going up—to see more than $150 million in liquidations, whereas short positions—bets against the market—saw relatively smaller losses of $9 million.
What is Liquidation?
Liquidation happens when an exchange forcefully closes a trader's leveraged position because of partial or total loss of the trader's initial margin. This phenomenon heavily impacted the market, especially considering the following reasons:
Large Bitcoin Sales from Miners: Singapore-based QCP Capital mentioned, “Miners have been under tremendous pressure to sell given higher breakeven prices post-halving. Miner BTC holdings have dropped to the lowest level we've seen in the past 14 years, with total reserves lower by 50,000 from the start of the year.”
German Government BTC Movements: Allegedly, the German government sold around 3,000 BTC recently and plans to sell 47,000 more.
Impact of Whale Activity
Bitcoin whales—entities holding large amounts of BTC—sold over $1 billion worth of BTC in the first two weeks of June alone. The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), which had seized almost 50,000 BTC from a piracy site in 2013, began moving tens of millions worth to crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken.
Persistent Market Weakness
Monday’s drop continues one of Bitcoin’s worst weeks this year. BTC prices had already been suffering due to $1 billion in sales from large holders, a strong U.S. dollar, and a robust U.S. technology index market. Additionally, U.S.-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded over $1 billion in net outflows last week.
Stay Updated: For more insights into cryptocurrency trends, follow our website for the latest news and updates.
