Crypto market still reeling as bitcoin surges above $24,000 and triggers sell-offs

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On Wednesday, the crypto market received favorable news in the form of the FOMC announcement and the price of Bitcoin finally broke above $24,000. With the Fed turning dovish after being hawkish throughout 2022, this was a beacon for the crypto market and selloffs intensified as the market took advantage.

Crypto Market Liquidations Surpass $130 Million

With Bitcoin rallying above $24,000, short traders have once again pulled the short stick and are being brutalized in the market. As of Thursday morning, the volume of liquidations over the past 24 hours quickly topped $130 million.

Over 47,000 traders had their positions liquidated with the market rally and, as expected, the vast majority of them were short traders. Data from Coinglass shows that 72.96% of all traders affected during this liquidation event were short traders.

Furthermore, nearly half of all liquidations occurred on crypto exchange Binance at 48.34%, while Bybit accounted for 19.37% and OKX followed closely behind at 14.96%. Interestingly, the largest single liquidation took place on the Bybit exchange on the BTCUSD pair worth $1.69 million.

Liquidations Cross $130 Million | Source: Coinglass

Bitcoin leads the pack with over 1,670 BTC liquidated worth $39.67 million. Ethereum saw 20,560 ETH liquidated with $34.31 million, as the price of ETH surged past $1,660. Aptos, Solana, and Optimism made the top 5 with liquidations of $6.10 million, $4.05 million, and $2.95 million, respectively.

However, in the past four hours, there appears to be a turning point in the trend with bitcoin falling below $24,000. While short traders are still experiencing the majority of liquidations (58.14%), long positions are catching up.

What happens if Bitcoin continues to grow?

Bitcoin has since pulled back after surging above $24,000, but the digital asset is still maintaining its bullish streak. This means that there is still a long lead for bitcoin and it could possibly rally above $24,000 before the end of the trading day.

If that happens, liquidations should accelerate quickly. The consolidation of BTC over the past few days had helped sow doubt in the market, and short positions were opened during this period. The Fed’s decision to only raise interest rates by 25 basis points has already instilled more confidence in investors who are now more willing to take risks.

BTC trending above $23,800 | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

Currently, with BTC hovering above its 200-day moving average, $25,000 is more likely to allow the digital asset to end its rally ahead of a major pullback.

As of this writing, bitcoin is still changing hands just below $24,000 to $23,800. Nonetheless, the digital asset is recording gains of 3.39% in the past 24 hours, according to data from Coinmarketcap.

Follow Best Owie on Twitter for market news, updates, and the occasional funny tweet Featured image from Bitcoinist, chart from TradingView.com

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