Bitcoin and Ethereum led the cryptocurrencies in liquidation, with over 54,000 traders liquidating their leveraged positions and the total market capitalization approaching $2.1 trillion.
CoinGlass reported that more than $145 million was liquidated from cryptocurrency markets in 24 hours across exchanges. Of these trades, $91 million were registered as short positions, as most traders expected lower prices.
However, the overall cryptocurrency market cap rose 1.2%, per CoinGecko, paying off the downside bet. A $4 million Bitcoin (BTC) position on the USDT pairing recorded the largest single liquidation order. The transaction took place on Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Additionally, traders lost at least $70 million in BTC and Ethereum (ETH) combined from long and short punts.
Bitcoin, Ethereum rise
BTC and ETH, the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, showed price increases last week. The token has risen 3% and 11% over the past seven days amid bullish market sentiment.
The US SEC’s approval of the Bitcoin ETF on January 10 is believed to be a major driving force behind the Bitcoin rally, as it makes Bitcoin the 10th largest asset in the world, with a price reaching $51,800 and a market capitalization of over $1 trillion. I see it. There is also anticipation surrounding the Bitcoin halving, which is expected to occur in April.
Some believe that the halving, which cuts new block rewards in half, and the takeover of BTC by spot Bitcoin ETFs will trigger a supply crunch while demand increases. The main hypothesis suggests that this will cause a parabolic run for the largest asset in cryptocurrencies.
Ethereum’s current momentum centers around a technology upgrade called Dencun. Developers say this fix will expand data availability for Layer 2 rollups through the Blob feature. This allows L2 to add more data to each block, reducing transaction costs and enhancing scalability.
Dencun is expected to launch on the Ethereum mainnet around mid-March after successful testing on three testnets: Goerli, Seplia, and Holesky.