No, its not a late April Fool joke. Crypto markets have tanked during the Tuesday morning Asian trading session following a $3K slide by Bitcoin.
Liquidations are mounting up as total market capitalization crashed more than 6% over the past few hours.
This has resulted in around $200 billion exiting the space as it fell to around $2.5 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
CoinGecko reports a slightly different figure, with the total cap dropping to around $2.6 trillion at the time of writing. However, it has remained sideways for most of the past month.
Liquidations Approach $500M
According to Coinglass data, 154,176 traders were wiped off, and the total liquidations came in at roughly $500 million over the past 24 hours. The vast majority of them were long positions.
The big move was driven by Bitcoin which fell 4% to $66,750 during Tuesday morning trading in Asia. The asset lost around $2,750 in less than two hours, further liquidating more positions.
At the time of writing, BTC is trading slightly below the $67,000 price level.
However, analysts were not fazed, with ‘CrediBULL Crypto’ stating, “All we have done here with this push down is test the two logical levels of support.”
Goldbug and Bitcoin derider Peter Schiff commented that the dip is the equivalent of a $100 drop in the price of gold in 10 minutes.
“If this turns into something bigger, ETF investors are trapped until the NYSE opens tomorrow,” he added.
However, while it may seem alarming to crypto newcomers, this market volatility and leverage flush-out is a regular characteristic of crypto markets. It is healthy for prices to return to non-leveraged levels.
Altcoins Hit Harder
As usual, the altcoin markets suffered heavier losses. Ethereum shed 6.5% in a fall to $3,350, pushing it back above 30% from its peak price.
After its epic rally, Solana dumped 8.5% in a fall to $185, while Dogecoin was smashed 11%, dropping to $0.192.
Other altcoins in double-digit pain today include Avalanche, dropping to $48, Shiba Inu, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin.
Those memecoins that degens have been pumping recently have mostly been hammered aside from Book of Meme (BOME), which actually made 12% on the day.