Levered Bullish Longs Getting Liquidated as Bitcoin Market Softens

On-chain data shows that traders' bullish long positions on bitcoin are being liquidated as the cryptocurrency struggles to gather traction above $30,000.

Data from CoinGlass shows that $85.68 million in long positions were liquidated in the last 24 hours, making up the majority of the $116.38 million in positions ‘rekt’ as the crypto market softens.

CoinGlass data also suggests that a significant number of liquidated traders had high-leveraged positions, with many that held positions between the $30,200 and $30,500 range.

Futures trading involves the use of leverage, meaning traders can take large long/short position by depositing a relatively small amount of money, called a margin, with the exchange providing the rest of the value. That exposes futures traders to liquidations – forced closure of long/short positions due to margin shortages often caused by the market moving against the direction of the levered bet.

The use of leverage has been creeping back into the market after hitting a low at the end of April. The higher the degree of leverage in the market, the greater the probability of wild price swings.

CryptoQuant’s estimated leverage ratio for bitcoin has risen from 0.19 at the end of April to 0.25 currently. It could rise further, as the recent bitcoin spot-ETF filings by BlackRock and other traditional finance heavyweights has revived bullish sentiment in the crypto market.

"There's a continued focus solely on U.S. (ETFs)," Edward Moya, senior market analyst for foreign exchange market maker Oanda, told CoinDesk earlier. "People are not going to be as optimistic until we get a further update that we're going to get that ETF done in the States."

Bitcoin is currently trading for $30,080, according to CoinDesk data.