Bitcoin traders hit by $210 million of long liquidations on Friday

Traders going long on bitcoin were hit by $210 million in liquidations on Friday as the crypto market dropped. It was the biggest liquidation event since June, when the market collapsed in the wake of widespread rumors about the potential insolvency of Three Arrows Capital (which turned out to be accurate).

According to The Block’s Data Dashboard, Friday’s liquidations fell short of the main $343 million long liquidation in June, but were greater than the secondary long liquidation event, in June, of $187 million. Yesterday's liquidations were met by just $30 million in short liquidations.

The liquidations came as the crypto market had been more bullish, with bitcoin having rebounded from lows below $20,000 and ether performing even more strongly ahead of The Merge that is scheduled to take place next month. 

Yet the market, which had largely been trading sideways all week, fell sharply on Friday. Bitcoin dropped from $23,000 to below $21,000 — causing the liquidations — while ether declined from about $1,800 to $1,600. Overall, the total crypto market lost about $112 billion and almost touched the $1 trillion mark. There has been little revival from these lows so far.