Bitcoin fell as much as 2.4% on Wednesday to about $83,600, slipping below $84,000 as about $550 million in leveraged crypto bets were wiped out over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data.
Those were liquidations, positions an exchange closes automatically when a trader using borrowed money can no longer cover the losses. Most of them hit longs, or traders betting on higher prices.
Ether dropped nearly 4% to about $2,590, XRP lost about 4% and SOL fell more than 3%.
Dan Khus, chief analyst at LVRG Research, told Bloomberg the drop looks like “a leverage flush instead of a downward trend.”
The slide takes bitcoin under the $84,000 level that FxPro flagged on Tuesday as the point where sellers take control. The recent low near $83,000 is the next test.
Risk appetite cooled across markets. Renewed Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz dimmed hopes that shipping through the waterway would return to normal and pushed Brent crude above $101 a barrel. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed back above 5.3%, and Europe’s Stoxx 600 snapped a three-day winning streak. U.S. stock futures were little changed after the S&P 500 closed at a record.
Minutes from the Fed’s last meeting come out later Wednesday. Rachael Lucas, an analyst at BTC Markets, told Bloomberg that a hawkish read could push yields and the dollar higher and keep risk assets under pressure.
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