Volatility over the past 24 hours has caused a spike in liquidations on centralized exchanges as bitcoin dropped below $67,000 and the broader crypto market followed suit.
There have been over $427 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours across various centralized crypto exchanges, according to CoinGlass data. Of these liquidations, the vast majority, around $342 million, were long positions.
Bitcoin 
BTC
-4.71%
positions took the brunt of the damage, with over $130 million in liquidations during the past 24 hours, $90 million of which were long positions.
Liquidations occur when a trader’s position is forcibly closed due to a lack of funds to cover losses. This happens when market movements are unfavorable to the trader’s position, leading to the depletion of their initial margin or collateral.
The wipeout of long positions came as bitcoin falls below the $67,000 mark, having begun trading above $71,000 yesterday. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap is down more than 4.2% over the last 24 hours, currently trading at around $66,500, according to The Block’s price page.
BTC/USD price chart. Image: The Block/TradingView
Meanwhile, the GMCI 30 index, representing a selection of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, fell 6.8% to 143.40 in the past 24 hours, with the second-largest cryptocurrency, ether, dropping 6.5% to $3,319.
Following the downturn, analysts at crypto trading firm QCP Capital said the options market signaled the move, with the liquidations led by large retail-heavy exchanges.
“Once again, the options market provided an early signal to a sharp downside move, particularly the downside skew in risk reversals,” QCP analysts wrote in a Tuesday morning report. “The speed of the move was due to large liquidations on retail-heavy exchanges like Binance which saw perp funding rates go from as high as 77% to flat.”
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