The bitcoin price has plunged by nearly 10% on Wednesday to fall near a 5-month low.
After flirting with a move to the upside above $8,000, the leading cryptocurrency dropped sharply below to just under $7,500.
Other major-cap cryptocurrencies also followed Bitcoin’s spiraling crash by falling between 4% and 9% in value. The most adversely affected were the Bitcoin variants – BCH and BSV.
Bitcoin trading near the ~$7,500 figure marks a low last recorded in June. Since the yearly high also registered in June, the crypto asset has now lost about 45% of its value. It has however nearly doubled in value since the start of the year.5
BSV Leads the Altcoin Bleed
Among the top-ten cryptocurrencies by marketcap, Bitcoin SV has fallen the most in the last 24 hours. After reaching a day’s high of $107, the altcoin initially tumbled to below $93 marking a drop of about 13%. At the moment, BSV has pared some of the losses to rise to slightly above $95.
Compared to other top 10 coins, EOS recorded the lowest drop. In the last 24 hours, the 8th-ranked crypto asset has fallen by about 5%.
L is for Liquidation on Bitmex
As is usually the case when Bitcoin encounters a rapid drop, leveraged traders were hurt the most. On Bitmex trades worth millions of dollars were liquidated in following what has become a pattern.
Following the plunge in the price of the leading cryptocurrency, buy trades worth over $200 million were liquidated on trading platform BitMEX. A little over an hour since Bitcoin fell by over $500, the value of the longs that had been liquidated on Bitmex stood at $211.7 million according to Datamish.
Coincidentally, the plunge comes at a time when Bakkt trading volumes have hit a record high. Currently, the trading record stands at 347 BTC for the month of November.
Did Mark Zuckerberg cause the Crash?
The plunge in cryptocurrency prices comes as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies in the U.S. Congress over the tech giant’s efforts to launch its own cryptocurrency. There has been stiff opposition from US lawmakers as well as governments around the world. The appearance by Zuckerberg could further increase regulatory scrutiny on cryptocurrencies.
Click here for a real-time bitcoin price chart.
Last modified: June 14, 2020 9:40 AM UTC
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