The price of Bitcoin briefly dropped to $57,874 amid a broader sell-off in the crypto market, with $54.9 million in Bitcoin long positions liquidated in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin briefly dipped to $57,874 on July 4, marking the first time the asset has fallen below the $58,000 mark in over two months.
Bitcoin has since stabilized, trading at $58,964 at the time of publication, though it remains down 3.4% for the week, according to TradingView data. Bitcoin’s drop comes as millions of dollars in leveraged long positions were wiped out, affecting traders who were betting on a price increase.
More than $54.9 million in Bitcoin long positions have been liquidated in the last 24 hours, per CoinGlass data. Similarly, traders seeking long exposure to Ether ahead of the anticipated launch of several spot Ether ETFs in mid-July also saw their positions wiped out.
In total, $57.9 million in ETH long positions were liquidated in the last 24 hours.
Much of the blame for the broader decline in Bitcoin’s price has been attributed to the defunct Japanese crypto exchange Mt. Gox, which is scheduled to begin repaying approximately $8.5 billion worth of BTC to its creditors starting in early July.
However, some analysts believe the repayments may not have as severe an impact on Bitcoin as feared.
Other major cryptocurrencies and altcoins also experienced sharp declines during Bitcoin’s dip below $58,000. Ether is down 4.5% at the time of writing, briefly falling to $3,145 during a sharp sell-off at 2:00 am UTC on July 4.
BNB is down 6% at the time of writing, falling from $573 to $539. Solana also gave up much of its recent gains, dropping 10.3% in the last 24 hours, from a weekly high of $154 to $136 at the time of publication.
