Key Highlights:
- Cryptocurrencies have seen significant losses across the board on Monday.
- Bitcoin dipped from over $100,000 to just above $96,000 by the end of the U.S. session.
- This volatility triggered approximately $750 million in liquidations of leveraged positions.
A slow retreat in cryptocurrency values, which began over the weekend, intensified during Monday's early evening trading hours, resulting in nearly uniform declines throughout the sector.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen back to just above $95,000, marking a 5% decrease in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, Ether (ETH) is down by 10%, trading at approximately $3,590.
The broader CoinDesk 20 Index has also experienced a drop of over 8%, with Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), and XRP (XRP) registering declines close to 20% each.
More than $750 million in leveraged positions were liquidated across all digital assets today, as reported by CoinGlass, with the vast majority being bullish bets. Today's selloff is comparable to the crash experienced on August 5, though slightly behind last Thursday's sharp dip, when Bitcoin plummeted from over $100,000 down to $90,000.
There are indications of diminishing momentum in crypto markets, including lowering trading volumes and profit-taking from long-term holders, according to a Monday morning note from 10x Research. As stated by the firm's founder, Markus Thielen:
"This is likely to be only a brief consolidation phase before the bull market regains momentum. However, traders should now pay close attention to which positions are outperforming and which are underperforming as we enter a phase where not everything will continue to rise."
Market analysts from digital asset hedge fund QCP have observed that traders in options markets are increasingly preparing for sideways price action as the year ends. They are taking profits on previous bullish positions and might be rolling them out to early next year.
"While we remain fundamentally bullish, we anticipate price consolidation for the remainder of the holiday period," they noted.
