The cryptocurrency world experienced declines last night, negatively impacting the market and resulting in a 4% drop in volume to $1.61 trillion. On the other hand, the impending expiration of Bitcoin and Ethereum options brought significant sell-off pressure on investors. This pressure led to the liquidation of $250 million in the last 24 hours. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell from 63 (greed) to 56 (neutral).
Current Bitcoin Situation
The price of Bitcoin dropped from $42,720 to $40,631 last evening, marking a 4% decrease. During this period, the market’s top altcoins by volume, such as Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP, Cardano (ADA), and others, also experienced a 3-7% drop within hours.
On the LUNC front, following the failure of the latest proposals put to vote, the price fell over 9% in 24 hours, trading at $0.000113 at the time of writing. Investors had been eagerly anticipating a significant price surge following the listing of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the crypto market.
On the other hand, Bitcoin options with a nominal value of $890 million, equivalent to 22,000 BTC, are set to expire today (January 19), with a put-call ratio calculated at 1.1. Another notable point in the calculation is the pain point considered to be at the $44,000 level, which is seeing selling pressure on the price. While all this is happening, the BTC price has fallen by 4% and is trading at the dollar level at the time of writing.
In addition to Bitcoin, Ethereum options with a nominal value of $520 million, representing 211,000 ETH, are also expiring. The pain point for ETH is seen at the $2,500 level, indicating that the trading price has remained above the $2,469 level. ETH’s price also fell by 3% in the last 24 hours, reaching its lowest level of $2,426.
$250 Million Evaporated
According to data from Coinglass, it was revealed that $250 million in cryptocurrency liquidations occurred on January 19. A single transaction liquidation worth $7.31 million on Binance was noteworthy, while over 103,000 investors were liquidated in the last 24 hours. BTC, ETH, and SOL long positions were at the forefront of the liquidation rankings among the top cryptocurrencies.
On the other hand, open positions related to Bitcoin and Ethereum futures fell below $18 billion and $8.5 billion, respectively. However, a recovery from the recent selling pressure could trigger a rise after the expiration of the futures. Nonetheless, there was a general atmosphere of decline in cryptocurrency volume over the last 24 hours.