Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP Crash Triggering $637M in Liquidations
The post Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP Crash Triggering $637M in Liquidations appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. In brief Bitcoin dropped to an intraday low of below $86,000, sparking $637 million in liquidations across the crypto market. Strategy CEO Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin sale comments, Tether’s potential insolvency rumors highlighted by BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, and China’s crypto ban reminder were among the catalysts that drove crypto’s weekend drop, Decrypt was told. Despite the crash, 88% of bettors on prediction market Myriad reject the idea of a coming crypto winter. Bitcoin shed 5% in the past 24 hours, dragging Ethereum, XRP, and other altcoins down with it. The top crypto is now down over 21% in the past month, ending October on a negative note. Bitcoin plunged to an intraday low of $85,694 and is currently trading around $86,800, down 31% from its all-time high, according to CoinGecko data. Beta assets like Ethereum and XRP, which follow Bitcoin’s cues, have shed 5.6% and 6.5% respectively over the past day, highlighting the delicate situation among altcoins. As a result of the sudden selloff, total crypto market liquidations have skyrocketed to $637 million, some $568 million of which are long positions, according to CoinGlass data. What drove Bitcoin’s sell-off? The short-term factors behind Bitcoin’s weekend plunge are “straightforward,” Wenny Cai, COO of SynFutures, told Decrypt. “A rapid, momentum-driven drop forced outsized long liquidations (over half a billion dollars), which then amplified selling across spot and derivatives markets,” Cai explained, adding that, “That cascade effect is what turns a correction into a sharp short-term crash.” One key crypto-related catalyst behind the drop is Strategy CEO Phong Le’s comments about selling Bitcoin. “We can sell Bitcoin, and we would sell Bitcoin if needed to fund our dividend payments below 1x mNAV,” Le noted in a Friday podcast. Strategy holds 649,870 BTC, worth $56.26 billion at the current price, with a 1.19x mNAV,…