Bitcoin and Altcoins plummet amid global tensions and recession fears
A representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin placed on U.S. dollars in this illustration taken, January 24, 2022. (Reuters)
Bitcoin (BTC) dropped below critical support levels over the weekend as market concerns over a potential global recession and rising tensions in the Middle East weighed heavily.
The leading cryptocurrency fell more than 8% since the start of the weekend, reaching $57,040 — its lowest price in nearly three weeks. As of the latest update, BTC was trading at $57,718, marking a decline of over 4% in the past 24 hours, according to CryptoSlate data.
Altcoins suffer losses
Ethereum (ETH) also experienced a significant drop, reaching its lowest level since April. ETH fell over 6% in the past 24 hours to $2,613 but was attempting a rebound. As of the latest update, it was trading at $2,745, erasing the gains from its July peak of $3,400 following the launch of spot ETH exchange-traded funds.
Solana (SOL) saw one of the steepest declines among the top ten cryptocurrencies, dropping over 9% on August 4 to a low of $131 before starting to recover. According to CryptoSlate data, SOL was trading at $133.6, holding steady despite Bitcoin’s continued decline. BNB, Dogecoin (DOGE), and Avalanche (AVAX) also experienced declines of 6% to 7%, while Cardano (ADA) was down approximately 3%.
In contrast, Toncoin (TON) managed to evade the market downturn, trading at $5.86 with a minimal 0.03% decrease over the past 24 hours. However, TON has still fallen roughly 10% over the past week.
Liquidations hit hard
The sharp market decline triggered substantial liquidations of long positions, with a total of $282.83 million liquidated in the past 24 hours, affecting 104,193 traders. Long positions accounted for $248.57 million of these liquidations, with Ethereum and Bitcoin longs suffering the most at $89.77 million and $72.26 million, respectively. Solana saw $17.52 million in liquidations.
Binance was the most affected exchange, with $84.42 million in total liquidations, primarily from long positions. The largest single liquidation order occurred on OKX, involving a BTC-USDT swap valued at $8.81 million.
