Price speculators sees highest single-day loss of $774 million YTD amid Bitcoin upward trajectory Price speculators sees highest single-day loss of $774 million YTD amid Bitcoin upward trajectory
Bitcoin's price swings in a largely positive market left eggs on the face of some traders.
2 min read
Updated: Feb. 29, 2024 at 9:28 am UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Speculators on crypto derivatives suffered significant losses in the past day, totaling around $774 million, marking the highest single-day loss of the year due to volatile market swings.
Bitcoin, the bellwether digital asset, surged to its highest level since November 2021, surpassing the $63,000 mark in a remarkable rally. However, the euphoria was short-lived as the price swiftly plummeted below $60,000, triggered, in part, by fear created by technical glitches on major exchanges like Coinbase and Binance.
Adding to the volatility, observers noted sizable Bitcoin transfers from wallets linked to funds seized by US authorities in the Bitfinex hack. The nearly $1 billion movement to undisclosed addresses fueled speculation that authorities might capitalize on the market surge to offload their holdings. However, CryptoSlate analysis suggests the movement was likely UTXO management.
Despite the turbulence, Bitcoin regained ground, rallying to $62,530 at the time of reporting, marking a 7% gain over the previous day.
Meanwhile, other prominent cryptocurrencies followed suit with impressive gains. Ethereum, for instance, surged 5% to nearly $3,500, reaching its highest value since April 2022. Solana also experienced a resurgence, hitting around $130, its highest level in 22 months, according to CryptoSlate data.
Among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, Cardano and Dogecoin stood out with remarkable double-digit gains of 11.78% and 39.16%, respectively.
Almost 190,000 traders liquidated for $774 million
In the past 24 hours, the green market’s robust performance resulted in the liquidation of 189,679 traders, amounting to a staggering $774 million, per Coinglass data.
Short traders dominate the current liquidation landscape, accounting for a significant portion of the total losses. Those betting against price hikes faced a collective loss of $409 million, whereas long traders, anticipating price increases, incurred losses totaling approximately $365.48 million.
Bitcoin traders bore the brunt of the losses during this period, with a substantial $292.09 million downturn. Short traders experienced losses of $187.83 million, while long traders saw a decrease of $104.26 million.
Similarly, Ethereum experienced losses totaling $126.64 million, while traders in DOGE and Solana suffered losses of $50.3 million and approximately $29 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, the most significant individual liquidation occurred on OKX, totaling $9.45 million from a BTC-USDT-SWAP.
Across exchanges, Binance and OKX reported the highest liquidations, constituting 35.57% and 35.31% of the total, respectively. These losses translated to $275.46 million and $275.43 million, as reported by Coinglass. Conversely, Huobi, Bybit, and Bitmex witnessed liquidations amounting to $79.40 million, $72.21 million, and $51.75 million, respectively.
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 
Liam 'Akiba' Wright
Also known as "Akiba," Liam is a reporter, editor and podcast producer at CryptoSlate. He believes that decentralized technology has the potential to make widespread positive change.
Latest Bitcoin Stories
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
$3,122.01
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that enables the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps).
Solana
$142.490
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.
Dogecoin
$0.14837
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created in December 2013 as a joke by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer.
Cardano
$0.46626
Cardano is a decentralized public blockchain and cryptocurrency project and is fully open source.
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.
Bybit
Bybit is a cryptocurrency derivative trading platform established in March 2018 and registered in the BVI.
