Cryptocurrency market tumbled on Thursday morning as Bitcoin BTC/USD fell over 3% in early Asian trading, triggering a wave of liquidations worth over $250 million.
What Happened: Ethereum ETH/USD also took a heavy hit, falling by 7.5%, exacerbated by outflows from recently launched Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The sudden drop in Bitcoin, which saw the world’s largest cryptocurrency plummet from around $65,500 to nearly $64,000 within minutes, was largely attributed to a broader market downturn, with U.S. technology stocks taking a significant beating.
Bitcoin is currently trading around $64,200, down 3.2% in the past 24 hours, while Ethereum has fallen 8.5% to $3,171.
The Nasdaq 100 index suffered its largest decline since 2022, underscoring the growing investor anxiety about risk assets.
The cryptocurrency derivatives market was caught off guard by the volatility.
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, bore the brunt of the liquidations, with over $118 million in long positions wiped out.
Other major platforms like OKX and Huobi also reported substantial losses for long traders.
What ETFs Did: Ethereum, which has been under pressure since the launch of its ETFs, saw a net outflow of $133 million from spot ETFs yesterday, according to industry data, according to data from SoSo Value.
While Grayscale’s flagship Ethereum Trust ETF ETHE suffered a massive $327 million outflow, its Mini ETF and Fidelity’s ETF FETH managed to attract inflows of $45.9 million and $74.4 million respectively.
Despite these inflows, the overall sentiment around Ethereum ETFs remains cautious.
Despite the overall bearish sentiment, not all news was negative.
Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a net inflow of $44.5 million on July 24, with BlackRock‘s IBIT ETF seeing an impressive inflow of nearly $66 million, according to data.
However, Grayscale‘s GBTC experienced an outflow of $26.2 million.
However, the recent price drop and the ongoing market uncertainty have cast a shadow over the cryptocurrency.
What’s Next: The upcoming Benzinga Future of Digital Assets event on Nov. 19 will provide a platform for industry leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the crypto ecosystem.
Read Next: Ferrari Revs Up Crypto Payments In Europe, Expanding On US Success
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