Bitcoin experienced a significant drop, hitting a four-month low of $53,499 on Coinbase, following news of Mt. Gox’s latest transfer of cold wallets. According to TradingView, this drop occurred at around 4:19 am UTC on July 5, marking the lowest level since late February. CoinGlass reported that cryptocurrency liquidations have surged to $664.5 million in the past 24 hours, the highest in two months. Bitcoin has since recovered slightly to $54,300, representing a 7.4% decrease in the last 24 hours.
Similarly, other popular cryptocurrencies like Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) also experienced significant drops of nearly 10% on the same day. ETH fell to $2,898.20, going below its crucial $3,000 level that it had maintained since mid-May, according to Cointelegraph Markets Pro.
In the past 24 hours, crypto liquidations included $584 million in long positions and nearly $82 million in short positions. Long BTC positions accounted for $222 million of the total, with ETH longs being the second most liquidated position at nearly $163 million. These figures were reported by CoinGlass.
Moreover, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index reflected a score of 29 out of 100 on July 5, indicating that positive sentiment toward crypto is at its lowest point since January 2023, signaling fear in the market.
Traders are concerned about potential sell pressure resulting from the $8.5 billion in Bitcoin creditor paybacks by the collapsed crypto exchange Mt. Gox. On July 5, the exchange made its first major move since May by transferring 47,229 BTC, equivalent to around $2.6 billion, to a new address. In addition, the German government has been adding to the sell-side pressure by selling 7,583 BTC worth $419.5 million since June 19. It still holds 42,274 BTC, valued at approximately $2.3 billion.
Analyst Markus Thielen from 10x Research predicts that Bitcoin could fall as low as $50,000 due to the sell pressure on the cryptocurrency.
Overall, the recent pullback in Ethereum’s price could present an opportunity for investors in the dynamic decentralized finance (DeFi) space.