- It has been a rough past 12 hours for Bitcoin, as the benchmark cryptocurrency is currently in the process of erasing weeks of gains as it plunges lower
- The crypto came within a stone’s throw of its all-time highs before the selling pressure began mounting
- From here, its price rejected and began its descent down to where it is currently trading at
- One reason behind this dip is concerns regarding a new wave of crypto market regulations in the U.S., due to comments made by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin
- Bulls were hit hard by the recent selloff, with $750 million worth of long positions being liquidated
Bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency market have been caught within the throes of an intense uptrend throughout the past few days and weeks.
The buying pressure that the crypto has seen has been unprecedented, with billions of dollars being added to its market cap on a weekly basis.
This 2017-style run-up eventually led to highs of $19,500, which is just below its previous all-time highs. It faced an intense influx of selling pressure at this price that sparked the ongoing descent.
The effects of this were compounded by growing fears of a regulatory crackdown on crypto in the U.S., and Bitcoin bulls faced widespread liquidations.
Bitcoin Struggles to Gain Momentum as Selling Pressure Ramps Up
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading down 10% at its current price of $16,900. This marks a notable decline from highs of $19,500 that were set yesterday.
The selling pressure seen at these highs indicates that significantly further downside could be imminent for the aggregated market.
Comments made by the U.S. Treasury Secretary regarding a potential crackdown on the market are likely the main force driving this move lower.
BTC Faces Wave of Long Liquidations as Bears Take Charge
One byproduct of this recent Bitcoin selloff has been a massive inflow of long-side liquidations.
As one analyst noted while referencing data from Coinalyze, the crypto has faced a total of $800 million in long-sided liquidations.
“Almost 800 mil in long liquidations alone. The derivs market hasn’t gotten this rekt since the black swan in March.”
Image Courtesy of Byzantine General.
This type of mass-liquidation event hasn’t been seen in quite some time, as bulls have taken firm control of the cryptocurrency over the past few days and weeks.
Featured image from Unsplash. Charts from TradingView.