Bitcoin Slides to $55,000 as Liquidations Top $600 Million – Decrypt

The price of the world’s largest crypto by market capitalization has fallen to its lowest point since February, triggering a cascade of liquidations worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

As a result, liquidations in long positions, or expectations that prices will increase, have spiked to above $500 million over the previous 24-hour period, according to CoinGlass data.

That’s the largest single-day wipeout for the crypto market since mid-April. A further $80 million in short positions have also been liquidated.

It comes as the price of Bitcoin fell to as low as $55,000 late Thursday. The asset has since clawed back some losses to around $55,550, CoinGecko data shows.

Bitcoin has struggled to regain a footing above $60,000, plagued by a lack of investor confidence and concerns surrounding a $2.7 billion transfer from the Mt. Gox bankruptcy estate’s cold storage to an unidentified wallet.

Ethereum, the world’s second-largest crypto, also fell more than 4% below $3,000, the first such instance since May 17.

Uncertainty over the U.S. Federal Reserve’s ability to bring inflation under control this year is taking its toll on risk assets, including crypto.

As a result, crypto prices may continue to feel the pinch, with experts forecasting a further slide for Bitcoin to $52,000, Decrypt previously reported.