Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies Face Strongest Sell-Off in a Year

Bitcoin (BTC) has shed 25% of its total value in just 4 days, shrinking by $320 billion. The rest of the cryptocurrency market lost practically the same amount.

Cryptocurrency markets on Monday experienced one of their steepest sell-offs in months, with prices testing levels not seen since early 2024. Bitcoin (BTC) shed around 25% of its total value in just four days, with about $320 billion being wiped off the broader crypto market.

Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies Face Strongest Sell-Off in a Year

Bitcoin price fell nearly 14% during Monday's session to levels below the psychological support of $50,000. This marked BTC's lowest price point since February and the fourth day of strong selling pressure.

In total, the price contracted by 25%, or about $16,000. In dollar terms, this translates to roughly $320 billion being shaved off the Bitcoin market since last Friday, erasing gains that were stubbornly built by crypto bulls at the beginning of the year.

BREAKING: #Bitcoin falls below $50,000 pic.twitter.com/11og9GoSyi

The BTC sell-off wave also caused massive losses in the altcoin market, bringing the total scale of the sell-off to nearly $600 billion. This marks the strongest sell-off in digital assets in over a year.

According to experts and analysts, the main reason for the sudden change in sentiment on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and major altcoins was the deteriorating condition of the stock market, with which digital assets are strongly correlated.

A recent 10x Research report suggests #Bitcoin's price might drop below $50,000 due to #US economic uncertainties, impacting the broader #crypto market. The #ISM Manufacturing Index downturn signals potential sharp corrections for Bitcoin and a 20% decline in the S&P 500. The… pic.twitter.com/xWk8e04mPG

For instance, the S&P 500 index lost nearly 2% last Friday, hitting two-month lows at 5,346 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid even more sharply, testing levels last observed in May.

"The wider digital token space is following steep losses in global stock markets amid fears of a slowdown in the US economy that is spurring speculation of an emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve," commented Arthur Firstov, Chief Business Officer at Mercuryo, the payment infrastructure provider for crypto. "Panic has swept across cryptocurrency markets as participants witness waves of selling pressure."

The strong depreciation of the US stock market was triggered not only by local economic data and concerns about the Federal Reserve's (Fed) future monetary policy but also by a crash in global stock markets. Global concerns were sparked by the Japanese market, where the Nikkei index lost 20% over three days. Monday's declines exceeded 10%, pushing the Tokyo stock exchange benchmark to its lowest levels since November 2023.

$1 Billion in Leveraged Longs Vanishes from the Market

The scale of losses in the cryptocurrency market and the money actually lost by investors are also shown by data on the value of liquidations of long leveraged positions.

CoinGlass data shows that liquidations of long positions over the past 24 hours reached nearly $1 billion. Of these, over $406 million in longs were wiped out in Bitcoin derivatives, and another $370 million from long positions on Ethereum derivatives.

Regarding #Bitcoin, this thing is a beauty. Its a ghost town in longs, because of nuclear liquidation event. Shorts are piling up and eventualy they will have the same faith. #cryptocrash #crypto #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/JUm8rKZU3V

Companies associated with digital assets, including publicly traded Bitcoin miners on Wall Street, are also losing out on the dynamic slide of cryptocurrencies. Shares of Marathon Digital Holdings, the largest BTC producer on the Nasdaq, fell by over 5% on Friday, hitting levels from May. The stock lost over 20% in just one week. Previously, the company's shares were impacted by news of a $138 million fine.