Bitcoin price falls below $68,000, volatility causes spike in long liquidations

The bitcoin price fell below the $68,000 mark in early-day trading on Friday after reaching a new all-time high above $73,000 the day before. Price volatility caused a spike in liquidations of leveraged Bitcoin positions.

The value of the largest cryptocurrency by market cap decreased by over 8% in the past 24 hours, trading at $67,016 at 5:40 a.m. ET.

The price correction over the past day led to substantial liquidation of long positions on centralized exchanges. This volatility resulted in the liquidation of more than $278 million in Bitcoin positions, with the majority ($225 million) being longs, according to CoinGlass data.

The second-largest crypto ether (ETH) also experienced an 8% downturn over the past day, now standing at $3,662 at 5:40 a.m. ET. However, SOL, the native coin of the Solana network, defied the downtrend by gaining a muted 0.5% in the same period, according to The Block’s Prices Page.

The overall crypto market experienced over $667 million in liquidated long positions in the last 24 hours, contributing to a total of $809 million in liquidations across various centralized exchanges, the data show.

Liquidations occur when a trader’s position is forcibly closed due to a lack of funds to cover losses. This happens when market movements are unfavorable to the trader’s position, leading to the depletion of their initial margin or collateral.