Liquidations hit $50 million in an hour as Bitcoin fell 3% to $58,500

Bitcoin experienced a sharp decline on August 20, falling below $59,000 as selling pressure intensified, leading to significant liquidations across the cryptocurrency market.

The flagship cryptocurrency fell more than 3% in an hour, giving up almost all of its gains from the previous trading day after hitting a weekly high of $61,400.

According to data from CryptoSlate, Bitcoin was trading at $59,000 at press time.

Liquidations

The downward price movement led to widespread liquidations across the cryptocurrency market, with more than $50 million liquidated in an hour, according to data from Coinglass.

The liquidation heatmap shows that Bitcoin accounted for the largest share of liquidations over the past four hours, with $1.84 million liquidated. Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) also saw notable liquidations of $396,130 and $178,470, respectively.

Most of these liquidations were concentrated on major exchanges, with OKX leading the way with $27.29 million and Binance with $23.61 million. The majority of liquidations over the last four hours were from long positions, accounting for $57.09 million, while short positions saw $5.76 million liquidated.

Meanwhile, over the past 24 hours, total liquidations amounted to $135.32 million, affecting 46,264 traders. The largest liquidation order was recorded on Binance, where a BTCUSDT contract worth $3.17 million was liquidated.

Market volatility and resulting liquidations highlight the risks associated with leveraged trading in the crypto space. As Bitcoin and other digital assets face continued selling pressure, traders should remain cautious, with the risk of further liquidations if bearish momentum continues.

Large cap performance varies

Ethereum and Solana echoed Bitcoin’s moves, both giving up the previous day’s gains in the past few hours.

At press time, ETH was trading at $2,576, while SOL was trading at $142.3.

Meanwhile, BNB, Dogecoin and XRP managed to hold on to most of the previous day’s gains despite a slight decline linked to Bitcoin’s drop.

At press time, BNB was trading at $569.4, up 3.81% from the previous day, while DOGE was at $0.102, up 3.37%. XRP was also up 1.35% in the past 24 hours and was trading at $0.59.

Toncoin posted the worst performance among the largest cryptos, with TON down 2.03% in the past 24 hours to trade at $6.64 at press time.

TRON, ADA, and AVAX defied the downtrend and rose 7.83%, 2.92%, and 6.98% respectively in the last 24 hours.

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