Bitcoin (BTC) stayed near two-month lows at the Aug. 18 Wall Street open as markets came to terms with extreme liquidations.
“Drying liquidity” costs BTC price key support
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price action tracking sideways after a single daily candle spawned 8% losses.
The largest cryptocurrency saw a cascade of liquidations across derivatives markets, with these accounting for an “outsized” majority amid relatively slack spot selling.
“In Deribit it is likely that a large account got wiped, considering the immense short liquidation that occured together,” trading firm QCP Capital wrote in a market update sent to Telegram channel subscribers on Aug. 18.
QCP, like others, noted that the market reaction to the alleged trigger — a write-down of SpaceX’s $373 million BTC holdings — appeared exaggerated.
“This brought back the 2021 and 2022 ghosts of Elon-driven tops and bottoms, and we certainly hope the market will not revert back to those times again,” it continued, referring to previous Bitcoin sales and accompanying comments from Elon Musk, joint CEO of SpaceX and Tesla.
Total liquidations challenged those seen in the immediate aftermath of the FTX exchange meltdown — the event that resulted in BTC/USD dipping to two-year lows…
