Bitcoin liquidations reached almost $ 1.4 billion per day

The bitcoin market BTC $70,525.84 Mezo Wrapped BTC 1.01% Market capitalization $41.12 million VOL. 24 hours $1.44 billion experienced sharp turbulence on Sunday, December 7, after a wave of massive sales by large holders. This led to a $ 2,000 drop in price, large-scale liquidations, and an equally rapid recovery. In a few hours, the market «knocked out» both long and short positions, which increased fears of manipulation amid low liquidity, as bitcoin continues to hold above $ 91,000.

According to analysts, more than 15,565 BTC were sold within one hour, for about $ 1.39 billion. The largest volumes of dumping were accounted for by wallets associated with Coinbase, Binance, BitMEX, Fidelity, Wintermute, and other participants. This simultaneous activity plummeted from $ 89,700 to $ 87,700, which triggered an avalanche of liquidations in the derivatives market.

The drop led to the liquidation of long positions worth more than $ 171 million. However, after that, bitcoin quickly recovered to $ 91,494, while also clearing out short positions — more than $ 14 million was liquidated in the last hour alone, and more than $ 91 million in four hours. In total, according to Coinglass, 121,628 traders were liquidated over the course of the day, with a total liquidation volume of $ 346.7 million.

Some analysts called the event a «planned liquidity hoarding». In their opinion, the big players took advantage of the weak market volume on the weekend to swing the price in both directions and make a profit. Others note that the rapid recovery after the fall indicates that there is stable demand in the spot market, despite temporary fluctuations.

Currently, bitcoin is trying to hold the $ 91,000 level, but remains vulnerable to further manipulation by large participants. Analysts predict that the price may stabilize when liquidity returns to the market and futures positions are restarted. However, if bitcoin rises to $ 93,000, about $ 1 billion more in short positions will be at risk of liquidation.