• Over $1 billion in crypto liquidations occured as crypto prices dumped sharply.
• Bitcoin fell to near $25k amid a flash crash triggered by SpaceX rumour.

The crypto market saw a sharp correction overnight Thursday/Friday morning, with Bitcoin price crashing within minutes from near $28k to lows of $25,600. Reverberations across the market resulted in over $1 billion in liquidations and the crypto market cap shrunk by nearly 7%.

Traders rekt as amid massive $1 billion in liquidations

Even though the benchmark cryptocurrency has pared some of the losses to trade around $26,440 at 7am ET, the negative flip left more than 176,000 traders rekt. According to data from Coinglass, the past 24 hours saw 176,700 traders liquidated – total liquidations in the time frame reaching $1.04 billion.

Most of the liquidated positions were longs at $832 million, while shorts accounted for about $206 million. Bitcoin saw over $499 million in liquidations – $373 million in longs and $125 million in shorts. 

According to Glassnode data, the largest single liquidation order was $55.92 million on Binance and involved ETH/BUSD. The ETH price fell to below $1,580, its lowest level since mid-June. Wu Blockchain posted this on X.

During today’s sharp drop, an investor in Binance’s ETHBUSD contract was liquidated at $1,434.37 for $55.9211 million, which was the largest liquidation order today. This could be a market maker, which may hedge on other exchanges. In the same minute, a Binance BTCUSDT contract…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 18, 2023

Why did Bitcoin price fall so suddenly?

Bitcoin teetered on a knife’s edge on Thursday when crypto mirrored broader market’s reaction to Fed minutes released on Wednesday. After breaking below $28k, largely on scant volume, the possibility of a flash crash increased.

That happened after rumours spread that Elon Musk’s SpaceX had dumped its BTC holdings. By the time the rumour was debunked, BTC/USD was trading at levels last seen when the market reacted higher on news of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF application.

Veteran trader and analyst Gareth Soloway highlighted the outlook via a post on X.

#Bitcoin flushed through 28k. With so little volume, stops triggering can cause an outsized move (flash crash).

Rumors that SpaceX dumped its holdings (unconfirmed) exacerbated the selling and increased the dump with so few buyers available. SpaceX did write down some of their… pic.twitter.com/eN6QErapWc

— Gareth Soloway (@GarethSoloway) August 17, 2023

The recovery towards the critical $28k level is likely to hinge on regulatory news involving the Grayscale ETF application, which is expected today around 11 am ET. Still on ETF news, there’s some optimism related to the approval of several Ether futures ETF applications. These and other market conditions could be key not just to Bitcoin and Ethereum, but the overall crypto market.

Bitcoin below $25k would bring the $20k support level into view and likely threaten a retest of the 52-week cycle lows. On the flipside, rebound to $28k on a confluence of upside triggers could inject fresh momentum and strengthen bulls.