Bitcoin Falls Below $68K, Leads to $811M in Crypto Liquidations

Bitcoin (BTC) fell below the $68,000 mark in early-day trading on Friday after hitting a new high above $73,000 the previous day. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $67,141, nearly 8% down in the last 24 hours. The price correction triggered massive liquidations of positions worth more than $811 million in the past 24 hours.

According to Coinglass data, over $668 million in longs and $143 million in short positions have been liquidated. This widespread liquidation activity has affected 246,179 traders. Most liquidations happened on Binance and OKX, with $302 million and $294 million, respectively. 

Bitcoin recorded liquidations totaling $281 million, with $226 million from long positions and $54 million from short positions. Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, also dropped below $4,000 today. At the time of writing, ETH was trading at $3,680, nearly 8% down in the last 24 hours. Ethereum saw liquidations amounting to $139 million, comprising $114 million from long positions and $25 million from short positions.

Crypto derivatives tooling provider Greeks Live noted a shift in market momentum, possibly linked to declining exchange-traded funds (ETFs) inflows. Pav Hundal, the lead analyst at Australian crypto exchange Swyftx, told Cointelegraph that if ETF volumes keep dropping, there might be a correction back to the low $60,000 or high $50,000 levels.

Hundal said:

“A lot of investors are concerned about hot inflation data, and if there’s a sustained downdraught in ETF volumes, we’d expect a significant correction.”

Spot Bitcoin ETFs Record $132M in Net Inflow

US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded one of their lowest net inflow days of just $132 million on March 14. This marks the lowest level in the past eight trading days and an 80% decline from March 13. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF saw $345 million in inflows, the highest among providers. However, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) saw outflows of $257 million, down slightly from the day before. 

The drop on March 14 marked the second consecutive day of decline. On Wednesday, inflows reached $684 million, reflecting a 38.3% decrease from March 12. Spot BTC ETFs saw an impressive $1.05 billion in net inflows on March 12, the highest single-day net inflow since the launch date.