Bitcoin derivatives traders who opened bullish positions as the cryptocurrency reached its record high, near $34,500, are now staring at massive losses.
Data provided by ByBt.com shows that the BTC/USD market liquidated long contracts worth $1.17 billion as of 2130 EST Sunday. The stop-losses triggered as the Bitcoin price slumped back below $30,000 amid a corrective spot market move, leaving derivative traders with open short positions in a profitable state.
Bitcoin Market Liquidation chart. Source: ByBt.com
Figures indicate that long position holders on Binance alone lost $339.37 million, followed by Huobi, whose traders suffered $258.1 million worth of losses. That eventually marked the Bitcoin market’s worst one-day liquidation after November 25 last year. On that day, long traders had lost about $999.52 million.
Bullish Anyway
None of the recent major long liquidations materialized into a broader bearish trend.
Spot traders remained long-term bullish on Bitcoin owing to its increasing prominence as a hedging asset among mainstream financial institutions and corporations. The one after November 25, for instance, saw the BTC/USD exchange rate climbing by as much as 114 percent to settle a record high of $34,810.
Many analysts admitted that institutional investors have lately utilized retail-led price dips to purchase Bitcoin en masse. As a result, the flagship cryptocurrency has rallied exponentially after developing concrete supports near $16,200, $17,650, $22,000, and the most recent $27,500.
For instance, a pseudonymous chartist said Monday that Bitcoin’s ongoing dip would wash out what he believes are “retail degens,” i.e., the cryptocurrency will move from weak to strong hands—those who would prefer to hold their investments long-term.
A BILLION in long liquidations and the day hasn’t even started yet lmao.
This was clearly needed to shake out retail degens.$BTC pic.twitter.com/AMtm5DQfYN
— Byzantine General (@ByzGeneral) January 4, 2021
The so-called “HODLING” sentiment, in turn, comes from a supportive macroeconomic outlook.
People treat Bitcoin as a safe-haven against falling bond yields and the US dollar. That serves as the same reason why billionaire investors like Paul Tudor Jones and Stan Druckenmiller have integrated the cryptocurrency into their portfolios. That further explains why MicroStategy, Square, Ruffer Investments, MassMutual, and others, have opted to invest in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Technical Setup
Bitcoin investors have also treated the 20-day exponential moving average wave (the green curve in the chart below) as their medium-term support. Each of the cryptocurrency’s downside price correction stops at or ahead of the said floor before resuming its move upward.
Bitcoin pulls back after testing $27,678 as support. Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Right now, the 20-EMA wave sits just above $26,500. The Bitcoin price could extend its downside correction to the said level to attempt a pullback move back above $30,000. Meanwhile, a slip below the 20-EMA exposes a further bearish move towards the 50-day simple moving average (blue), lurking just below near $21,500.
