Bitcoin‘s price fell below $45,000 on January 12 following the SEC’s approval of all spot ETF applications, which led to increased market volatility. The cryptocurrency experienced a sharp drop after briefly touching $49,000 in the last 24 hours, resulting in the liquidation of over $80 million in Bitcoin futures positions.
The majority of these liquidated futures positions were long, with more than $47 million liquidated. According to data from Coinglass, total liquidations for all leveraged crypto positions in the last 24 hours amounted to $209 million.
Most liquidations stemmed from long positions, totaling $121 million, while short positions accounted for approximately $88 million in liquidations. These liquidations occur when an investor’s position is automatically closed due to insufficient funds to cover losses.
Such events are triggered by negative market movements and can lead to the loss of the initial margin or a set amount of assets by the investor. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $44,586, marking a 3.95% decrease over the last 24 hours.
The volatility causing numerous futures positions to be liquidated was higher compared to the previous month. Current annual Bitcoin volatility rose from 42.9% in mid-December to 46.5%, and Bitcoin’s on-chain transaction volume reached a 12-month high of $41.5 billion. Despite the price drop being perceived as a sell-the-news event, an analyst suggested that the SEC’s approval of multiple spot Bitcoin ETF applications signified institutional endorsement for the asset.