Sun, December 22

Bitcoin Dips Below $70K Amid Market Selloff

Bitcoin Dips Below $70K Amid Market Selloff Bitcoin News
  • Bitcoin price declined by over 4.74%, dropping from $68,507 to $71,918.
  • The crypto market saw $411M in liquidations, with $361.29M from long positions and $50.42M from shorts.

Bitcoin (BTC) displayed a significant pullback today, flipping its earlier gains and hardly maintaining a week-over-week increase. On Friday the cryptocurrency briefly teased an all-time high in the $71,918 range before retreating in U.S. trading, with its price standing at $68,507, down 4.74% in the past 24 hours.

This decline occurred with a large selloff across the cryptocurrency market, worsened by a stronger-than-expected U.S. employment report for May, which showed an addition of 272,000 jobs. This news dampened hopes for an imminent Federal Reserve interest rate cut, causing interest rates and the dollar to rise.

What’s Behind the Decline in Bitcoin Price?

The sharp decline in Bitcoin price led to liquidations exceeding $411 million across the cryptocurrency market, with long positions totaling $361.29 million and short positions worth $50.42 million. Bitcoin alone saw $70.81 million in liquidations, with all other cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), PEPE, and more, witnessing a cumulative liquidation of $403 million.

Global Crypto Market Liquidation Chart (Source: Coinglass)

Additionally, Bitcoin’s exchange reserves decreased by 0.06% to 1.81 million, suggesting that investors might be withdrawing their holdings to personal wallets, indicating a preference for holding rather than selling.

However, Bitcoin bulls are hoping for a breakout to reach new highs. Market sentiment, as measured by the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, dropped by 6% to 72. BTC market sentiment remains in the ‘Greed’ territory. This phase is often considered the final stage of a bull market.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $69,266, with a market cap of $1.36 trillion. Despite the pullback, the daily trading volume surged by 36% over the past 24 hours to reach $35 billion. 

Further, Spot ETFs have completed an 18-day streak of consecutive inflows, a feat not seen even during the market rallies of February and March. Over this period, ETFs have accumulated more than 56,000 Bitcoins, nearly seven times the amount mined during the same time frame, according to HODL Capital. But still, Bitcoin is down around 5.96% from its all-time high of $73,750. 

A journalism graduate who is passionate about writing loves to dance and travel currently starts exploring blockchain technology.