Bitcoin Surges Past $30,000 and Wipes Out More Than $260 Million in Crypto Shorts

The global crypto market experienced a significant sell-off in the last 24 hours, as Bitcoin surpassed the $30,000 level for the first time. According to data from CoinGlass, more than $260 million worth of cryptocurrencies were liquidated in this period, indicating a high level of volatility and risk in the digital asset space.

This massive market movement also affected traders who bet against the crypto market by taking short positions, hoping that the prices would continue to decline. However, the crypto market defied their expectations and rebounded strongly, causing them to incur losses. This shows how unpredictable and dynamic the crypto market can be, and how traders need to be cautious and well-informed before entering any positions.

Crypto Traders Lost $269M in 24 Hours

According to CoinGlass, a cryptocurrency data analytics platform, a total of 65,392 traders suffered liquidations in the last 24 hours, resulting in a cumulative loss of more than $269 million. This shows the high volatility and risk involved in crypto trading, especially when the market experiences significant movements, such as Bitcoin’s recent rise above $30,000.

The majority of these liquidations occurred on Binance, a leading crypto exchange, which accounted for $84.79 million of the total. Other exchanges also witnessed large liquidations, such as OKX with $69.53 million, Bybit with $37.9 million, and Huobi with $32.35 million.

The majority of traders expected prices to drop further, and most of them held short positions. However, this strategy backfired when the market experienced a surge of liquidations. The traders with short positions suffered the most losses, accounting for about 81% ($218.21 million) of the total liquidations. 

The traders with long positions also faced some losses, but they were less significant, accounting for about 20% ($51.50 million) of the total liquidations. Smaller exchanges were less affected by the liquidations than larger ones.

This shows that the crypto market’s instability can hurt traders at both extremes. A striking case of this risky situation was on BitMEX, where one trader lost a huge $9.30 million in XBTUSD swaps, the biggest single liquidation in the series.