As Bitcoin stumbled in its attempt to crack the $100,000 barrier on November 24th, the cryptocurrency world witnessed one of the largest weekend liquidation events in over six months. A staggering $470 million worth of cryptocurrency positions were liquidated in just 24 hours. Both long and short liquidations contributed to this sum, with $352.6 million and $119.9 million respectively, according to CoinGlass’s data.
Interestingly, a significant majority of these liquidated positions were related to altcoins. Bitcoin and Ethereum collectively accounted for $108.9 million worth of liquidations. However, it was Dogecoin, XRP, and Stellar that grabbed a disproportionate piece of the liquidation cake with $33.1 million, $27.6 million, and $21.6 million respectively. Solana, The Sandbox, Polkadot, and Cardano also experienced severe liquidations.
In a surprising turn, many of these altcoins from the 2020-2021 cycle displayed a remarkable performance during November 23rd and 24th, with Stellar’s value surging by around 50%. In this price rally, Dogecoin also reached its highest value since May 2021, which is when this popular memecoin had previously reached its record peak, as per CoinGecko’s data.
Miles Deutscher, a respected industry analyst, observed that traders from the previous cycle were reactivating their cryptocurrency wallets after a period of inactivity and reinvesting in tokens they were familiar with. Some also suggest that utility tokens traded below their fair value in a ‘barbell’ market, which has so far favored Bitcoin and memecoins.
While Bitcoin’s rally has been impressive, particularly since November 5th when it has surged by nearly 44%, its price has dipped by 2% from its historic peak of $99,645 (November 22nd). Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $97,790, holding an imposing 56.2% dominance of the total cryptocurrency market cap, which rests at $3.46 trillion.