Crypto Bulls Face Second-Largest Liquidation Day in October as Bitcoin Dips

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Ruholamin Haqshanas

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Ruholamin Haqshanas

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Ruholamin Haqshanas is a contributing crypto writer for CryptoNews. He is a crypto and finance journalist with over four years of experience. Ruholamin has been featured in several high-profile crypto...

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October 24, 2024

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Crypto traders who bet on rising markets faced a major setback on October 23, marking the second-largest day of liquidations this month.

Total liquidations amounted to $261 million, with $203.5 million of that coming from long positions, according to data from CoinGlass.

This follows the larger $450.8 million liquidation on October 1, when Bitcoin experienced a 5% drop.

Bitcoin and Ether Hit Hardest During Liquidation Wave

Bitcoin and Ether were hit the hardest during the recent liquidation wave.

Ether traders suffered the most significant losses, with over $77 million in long positions wiped out, followed by Bitcoin, which saw $58.3 million in liquidations.

Bitcoin’s price decline was particularly disappointing for traders who had expected a continued rally after it neared $70,000 on October 21, the highest level in three months.

However, Bitcoin’s momentum faltered, dropping to a low of $65,500 before recovering slightly to $67,386, up just 0.5% over the last 24 hours.

Ether also struggled, posting the largest loss among the top 10 cryptocurrencies.

It fell by 1.7% to $2,552, a sharp decline from its 24-hour high of $2,620. Ether had briefly reached a two-month high of $2,750 on October 21 before the pullback.

On-chain data suggests that high transaction fees on Ethereum’s network are dampening demand for staking, which could be weighing on investor sentiment.

Despite the volatile day, institutional investors continued to pour money into Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based in the United States, attracting $198.5 million in net inflows.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF led the charge with $323.6 million in inflows, although outflows from the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF and the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF slightly offset the total.

The inflows follow a seven-day streak of positive movement for Bitcoin ETFs, which added nearly $2.7 billion between October 11 and October 21.

Bitcoin Whales Holding Surge to Highest Level Since 2021

The number of large Bitcoin holders, known as whales, has surged to its highest level since January 2021, signaling potential for a price rally.

As reported, the number of entities holding at least 1,000 BTC rose to 1,678 earlier this week.

The increase in whale accumulation is seen as a positive sign for Bitcoin’s price outlook.

While whales are increasing their holdings, retail investor activity has slowed.

More specifically, retail investors have added just 1,000 Bitcoin in the past 30 days, marking a historically slow pace of accumulation.

In contrast, larger investors, holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC, have expanded their holdings significantly, growing by 173,000 Bitcoin this year compared to the 30,000 added by retail investors.

Meanwhile, Bitwise’s head of alpha strategies, Jeff Park, has predicted that Bitcoin could soar to $92,000 if Donald Trump wins the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

In a recent post on X, Park explained that by analyzing Bitcoin’s price movement against Trump’s odds on the decentralized betting platform Polymarket, and applying merger arbitrage-style probability calculations, he sees a strong likelihood of a post-election surge.

“I project a Trump victory could push BTC to ~$92,000,” Park wrote, adding to the growing list of analysts forecasting that a Trump win could significantly boost the crypto market.