The price of Bitcoin today hit a new all-time high of $69,324—but the excitement was short-lived. Bitcoin has since crashed by more than 6%, trading for just over $65,000.
The drop wiped out more than $31 million in long positions, according to data on Coinglass.
Today’s volatility has taken those placing leveraged bets on the price of Bitcoin on a wild ride. In just 24 hours, over $675 million in both long and short positions have been liquidated across the crypto market. Roughly $200 million was in Bitcoin derivatives alone.
Earlier this morning Eastern Time, Bitcoin was briefly trading for $69,324 on America’s biggest crypto exchange Coinbase, eclipsing the all-time high set during the 2021 bull run.
But it quickly dropped by nearly 6% since then and is now trading for $65,627 per coin, according to CoinGecko.
This means those who bet on the price of the cryptocurrency going up have lost out. Longs allow trader to bet on the price of the asset rising in the future.
If such positions are liquidated, then the trader has lost the bet and their position is closed.
BTC’s price has shot up this year following the approval of several spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The long-awaited investment products—which allow investors to buy shares tracking the price of BTC and trade on the stock exchange—have been wildly popular and received a huge influx of capital. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, now holds over $10 billion in Bitcoin for its clients who have bought shares in its Bitcoin ETF.