Bitcoin’s price experienced a sudden 5% drop on Tuesday, resulting in significant losses for traders with leveraged exposure to cryptocurrencies. Within just half an hour, Bitcoin fell from $69,450 to as low as $65,970. This sharp decline led to over $165 million in leveraged positions being wiped out. The majority of these losses came from Bitcoin longs, which accounted for just over $50 million, and Ether longs, which accounted for over $40 million. Additionally, around $6 million in long positions on Dogecoin and $4 million in Solana’s SOL were also liquidated.
CoinGlass data revealed that Bitcoin’s drawdown caused a $165 million leverage flush. Concurrently, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) experienced a net outflow of $86 million, ending a four-day streak of positive inflows. BlackRock’s ETF performed the best during this time, with net inflows reaching $165.9 million, followed by Fidelity with $44 million. However, Grayscale’s GBTC saw $302 million in outflows, resulting in a total net daily outflow of $85.7 million for all funds.
In addition to the Bitcoin flash crash, the value of Tether, a United States dollar-pegged stablecoin, also experienced a slight wobble. It briefly fell from its $1 peg to $0.988, according to CoinGecko data. It is unclear whether this wobble was due to an API error or an actual sudden loss in value. Not all price trackers reflected this depeg, so it is uncertain what caused it.
In other news, a team of white hat hackers called “SEAL 911” has been formed to combat real-time crypto hacks.