Bitcoin fell up to $35,600 on Thursday, in an overall market drop that saw about $242 million liquidations following Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.
Bitcoin-tracked futures witnessed $72 million in liquidations, the highest among cryptocurrencies, while ether futures dropped by $70 million. Solana’s futures liquidations totaled $6.46 million.
Following the Thursday morning crash, total liquidations in the crypto market reached $411 million in the last 24 hours. The liquidations affected about 114,700 traders.
Crypto liquidations were highest on crypto exchange OKX at $73 million, while Binance and Bybit saw $48 million and $24 million liquidations, respectively.
The plunge saw about 7.8% of crypto market cap wiped out, with more than 87% of liquidated traders holding long positions in the market.
The crypto crash has left the market questioning whether Bitcoin is ready to take the crown as a store of value from gold. Spot gold rose by 1.8% to hit the highest in more than a year, with the US gold futures up 1.7%.
Jeffrey Halley, OANDA’s senior market analyst, says gold still retains the crown of a safe-haven asset, having risen 8% in February following the Russia-Ukraine tensions.
