Bitcoin Dips 5% to Under $36K as Crypto Rally Runs Into Wall, Liquidating $340M in 2 Days

The
bitcoin

(BTC)
yo-yo
of
the
past
week
continued
on
Thursday,
with
Wednesday’s
rally
completely
reversed,
leaving
the
crypto
down
5%
for
the
session
and
trading
under
$36,000.

It
was
just
24
hours
ago
that
bitcoin

was
surging
and
within
a
few
dollars
of
crossing
the
$38,000
level
for
the
first
time
in
more
than
18
months.

As
has
been
a
familiar
trend
during
the
upswing
over
the
past
six
weeks,
a
wave
of
sell
orders
was
likely
sitting
close
to
a
round
number.
When
bitcoin
approached
$38,000,
the
sell
orders
took
over,
sending
the
price
lower.
That,
in
turn,
triggered
liquidations
of
leveraged
long
positions,
sending
the
price
hurtling
further
downward.

Indeed,
the
crypto
market’s
two-day
rollercoaster
hit
derivatives
traders
heavily,
liquidating
some
$340
million
of
leveraged
positions
over
the
period,

CoinGlass
data
shows.

Most
cryptocurrencies
followed
bitcoin
lower
during
the
day,
with
ether

(ETH)
dropping
4%
over
the
past
24
hours
to
$1,960.
Solana’s

(SOL)
and
Chainlink’s
native
token

(LINK)
declined
6%
and
9%,
respectively.

Fading
the
plunge
today
was
Avalanche’s
native
token

(AVAX),
extending
yesterday’s
double-digit
rally
with
another
7%
gain.

The
CoinDesk
Market
Index

(CMI),
which
tracks
the
performance
of
a
basket
of
almost
200
cryptocurrencies,
dropped
4%
during
the
day.

The
U.S.
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
(SEC)
Wednesday
delayed
a
decision
about

HashDex’s
spot
BTC
ETF
application,
increasing
the
odds
that
it
won’t
approve
any
such
vehicles
this
year.

Crypto
market
analytics
firm

K33
Research
noted
earlier
this
week
in
a
report
said
that
a
lack
of
an
SEC
decision
this
week
could
halt
momentum
in
the
crypto
market
until
the
next
deadline
early
in
2024.

Heightened
optimism
about
spot
ETFs
and
what
are
hoped
to
be
sizable
institutional
and
retail
inflows
helped
propel
bitcoin
from
$25,000
in
September
to
just
shy
of
$38,000.
There
still
could
be
news
this
week
as
Franklin
Templeton
has
a
decision
deadline
of
tomorrow.
Few,
though,
are
expecting
anything
except
another
delay
from
the
SEC.