Meanwhile, more than 239,000 traders had their positions closed over the past 24 hours, with liquidations totaling roughly $874 million, according to data from Coinglass, a cryptocurrency futures trading and information platform.
Though liquidations have spiked, the numbers are relatively muted when compared to previous declines, according to Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at Genesis Global Trading. Acheson points out that Bitcoin’s one-week skew, which compares the cost of bearish options to bullish ones, spiked to almost 15% on Wednesday compared to an average of about 6% in the past seven days.
“This flagged a jump in bearish sentiment, in line with overall market jitters given the current macro uncertainty,” she said.
Kara Murphy, chief investment officer at Kestra Investment Management, said cryptocurrencies have a life of their own but that the recent slump is rational.
“It makes sense as people start to retrench a little bit, look for something that’s a little bit more solid, they’re gonna move away from crypto,” she said. “On the margin, with folks becoming more risk averse, crypto will suffer from that.”
—With assistance from Justina Lee, Emily Graffeo and Ed Ludlow.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.