According to data from Bybt, close to 100,000 traders got liquidated across nine cryptocurrencies in the last 24 hours, with $1.16 billion being bitcoin bets alone.
It undeniably been a tough time for bitcoin perma-bears, as over 80% of these liquidated trades belonged to short sellers.
Briefly, liquidations are a security feature that protects exchanges and traders from incurring irreparable losses beyond a predetermined price. Traders ‘borrow’ assets from exchanges to place bigger trades and if their capital is not sufficient to sustain the trade (if it goes south), a forced liquidation ensues.
Bybt metrics suggested that short-sellers, i.e. traders who expect falling prices — were at the receiving end as large-cap cryptocurrencies turned into rocketships on Thursday, blasting through the stratosphere in anticipation of a turn-of-the-decade lunar landing. As a result, various cryptocurrencies spiked across the board, with bitcoin leading the charge, rising 15%. Ethereum and Litecoin followed suit, increasing 11% and 18% respectively shortly after.
As of December 16th, short sellers lost $692 million as of December 16, while long traders lost $223 million. As you can imagine, liquidations always go both ways.
Overall, over 97,539 traders were liquidated in the last 24 hours since Wednesday morning, with the single largest liquidation recorded on crypto exchange Bitmex—a $10 million bet on Bitcoin.
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The number one asset accounted for most liquidations, with short liquidations amounting to $1.16 billion (51,120 Bitcoin). On the other hand, Ethereum traders ranked considerably lower, with $75 million (113,000 ETH) lost to liquidations.
Of the top nine cryptocurrencies, Chainlink traders, also known as Link Marines, saw the least amount of liquidations—with just $2.46 million (174,000 LINK). Meanwhile, Tether borrowers, a US dollar-pegged stablecoin, witnessed a total of $3.15 million in liquidations.
When seen in terms of liquidations, Binance traders received the largest thrashing, with over $541 million obliterated in the last 24 hours. On the other hand, Bitfinex saw a notably lower amount at $3.55 million worth of liquidations—the lowest among all popular crypto exchanges.
Read More: BREAKING: The Fiat monetary system – BTC reaches $20,770
Meanwhile, short-sellers continue to bet against bitcoin as it trends higher and higher above all time highs.
In fact, $6.4 million worth of such bets were liquidated in the last hour alone.
For the time being, perhaps traders should consider disabling the ‘short’ button, at least until the raging bull takes a breather.
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