Bitcoin Plunge Causes $450M in Bullish Crypto Bets Liquidated

Crypto market capitalization dropped 5% on average as Middle East tensions flared up late Monday, denting growth in risk assets.

Bitcoin (BTC) price action led to hefty losses in futures markets on Tuesday, as a sharp drop in major tokens caused over $450 million in bullish crypto bets to be liquidated.

Futures tied to major tokens saw over $450 million in long liquidations in the past 24 hours, as a BTC price plunge led to losses among major tokens, with some falling as much as 8%.

According to data from derivatives tracking platform Coinglass, bitcoin traders betting on higher prices lost over $122 million, while bets on ether (ETH) lost nearly $100 million. Smaller alternative tokens (altcoins) recorded over $85 million in liquidations — the highest such figures since July — with memecoin pepe (PEPE) seeing an unusually high $10 million in liquidations.

A liquidation occurs when an exchange forcefully closes a trader's leveraged position due to the trader's inability to meet the margin requirements. Large-scale liquidations can indicate market extremes, like panic selling or buying. A cascade of liquidations might suggest a market turning point, where a price reversal could be imminent due to an overreaction in market sentiment.

Global equities and risk assets such as bitcoin took a hit Tuesday as Iran launched missiles on key Israeli locations, with the latter threatening retaliation in the coming days. BTC slid to as low as $60,300 in its worst start to a historically bullish month late Tuesday, before recovering above $61,500 in Asian trading hours Wednesday.

The drop caused pain for futures traders, who took on their biggest losses since early August. The data shows that nearly 86% of all futures bets were bullish.

Traders were positioning for higher prices in the weeks ahead as October traditionally favors BTC, with only two negative months since 2013.

Market conditions in the past few weeks, including global monetary policies and U.S. political support, indicated a continued bullish trend, with some traders targeting $70,000 for BTC in the coming weeks.

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