Bitcoin, Solana price breakout triggers $180 million in liquidations Bitcoin, Solana price breakout triggers $180 million in liquidations
Most of the losses during the past day were borne by traders betting against price increase of the crypto market.
2 min read
Updated: Dec. 21, 2023 at 9:41 am UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
The crypto industry saw over $180 million in liquidations between Dec. 20 and Dec. 21, as Bitcoin’s rally pulled the rest of the market upward.
Yesterday, Bitcoin’s price broke past the $44,000 barrier for the first time since early December before retracing to its current value of $43,735, according to CryptoSlate’s data.
Data from Coinglass showed that this price movement resulted in massive losses for traders who were betting against further price increases in the market. Short traders lost $105 million during the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, traders who thought the bullish movement would continue across the market lost approximately $76 million during the reporting period.
Bitcoin traders lost $48 million, with 70% of the losses coming from short traders.
On the other hand, speculators on the price of Ethereum were liquidated for a total of $38 million. Interestingly, traders betting on ETH price increases contributed to most losses, losing around $23 million.
Traders on Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, collectively lost $73 million, while those on OKX were liquidated for $65 million. Traders on other crypto platforms like ByBit and HTX lost a combined sum of $40 million.
Solana leads market
During the past day, Solana’s price broke past the $80 barrier, rallying by 13% to reach a 19-month high of $86, according to CryptoSlate’s data.
Traders who held positions against further SOL price increases lost more than $11 million during the past day.
CryptoSlate reported that SOL’s upward price movement catapulted it to the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, above Ripple’s XRP and other large-cap alternative cryptocurrencies like Avalanche’s AVAX.
ETF optimism continues
Meanwhile, hopes that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would approve a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) remains high as the regulator recently held meetings with BlackRock and Grayscale.
Over the past months, the Gary Gensler-led Commission has consistently engaged with the ETF applicants, fueling speculations that the market might soon witness its first ETF approval. For context, the regulator has met these two applicants nine times within the past month, resulting in the amendments of their applications.
Amid these regulatory engagements, several applicants like Bitwise have rolled out multiple advertisements for their ETFs, stirring further anticipation and interest in the market.
Mentioned in this article
Author 
Oluwapelumi Adejumo
Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.
Editor Editor 
Andjela Radmilac
Armed with a classical education and an eye for news, Andjela dove head deep into the crypto industry in 2018 after spending years covering politics.
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In this article
Bitcoin, a decentralized currency that defies the sway of central banks or administrators, transacts electronically, circumventing intermediaries via a peer-to-peer network.
Ethereum
$2,888.24
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that enables the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps).
Solana
$122.518
Solana is a high-performance blockchain platform that utilizes a unique consensus algorithm called “Proof of History” to achieve fast transaction speeds and low fees.
Avalanche
$32.4476
Avalanche is an umbrella platform for launching decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, financial assets, trading and other services.
XRP
$0.49644
The XRP Ledger is a decentralized cryptographic ledger powered by a network of peer-to-peer servers.
Binance
Binance is a global cryptocurrency exchange that provides a platform for trading more than 100 cryptocurrencies.
OKX
OKX is a world-leading digital asset exchange, providing advanced financial services to global traders by using blockchain technology.
BlackRock
BlackRock, synonymous with global asset management, is an American multinational investment management corporation based in New York City.
Grayscale Investments
Established in 2013 by Digital Currency Group, Grayscale Investments is a trusted authority on digital currency investing and cryptocurrency asset management.
Bitwise
Bitwise Asset Management pioneered the first cryptocurrency index fund and is the leading provider of rules-based exposure to the cryptoasset space..
HTX
Huobi, a virtual asset exchange, launched a revised branding strategy on September 13, 2023, where “Huobi” will be rebranded as “HTX.” “H” stands for Huobi, “T” represents TRON with a commitment to being all in TRON, and “X” stands for the exchange.