The price of Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a sharp decline recently, resulting in over $661 million in crypto liquidations within 24 hours, impacting almost 200,000 traders.
On March 15, Bitcoin dropped by 7.5% in a short period, going from $72,000 to $66,500. Although it recovered slightly to reach $68,000, it was rejected at that level and fell further to around $67,500, where it currently stands, down by 8.3% from its all-time high of $73,737 on March 14.
The majority of liquidations, about 80%, were long positions totaling $525.2 million, while short-position liquidations amounted to $136.5 million. The overall crypto market capitalization decreased by 7.3% to $2.68 trillion as $175 billion exited the market.
Greeks Live, a crypto derivatives tooling provider, mentioned a shift in market momentum on March 14, suggesting that the narrative of ETF inflows might be changing. Pav Hundal, the lead analyst at Swyftx, expressed concerns about a potential correction to the low $60,000 or high $50,000 levels if ETF volumes continue to decline.
Recent data showed a 48% decrease in Bitcoin ETF inflow volumes compared to the 14-day average, reaching just $133 million on March 14, the lowest this month. This led to speculations of a significant correction in the market.
Crypto trader CrediBULL Crypto noted that the recent drop erased most of the open interest in derivatives markets, predicting a further decline in Bitcoin’s price to around $63,000 to $64,000.
The release of economic data in the United States, including higher-than-expected Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) readings, contributed to the market decline. This data fueled expectations of prolonged high rates from the Federal Reserve and exacerbated economic concerns in the country.