Bitcoin, Ether, and Major Altcoins in Deep Red

Bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), Solana's SOL, and other major altcoins began the Asia trading day in the red as the week opened with volatility.

Bitcoin was down as low as 5% over a 24-hour period, trading at $41,300, before recovering to $42,000, according to CoinDesk Indices data. Ether hit a low of $2,170 before climbing back up to $2,239. Solana was down to $66 before climbing back to $70. Most of these losses took place within the last 90 minutes, as of press time.

The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) is down 4% to 1,743.

“The broader market has seen a minor adjustment at the start of this week due to the better-than-expected nonfarm payroll and lower unemployment," Greta Yuan, Head of Research, at VDX, a Hong Kong digital assets platform, told CoinDesk in an email interview. "The stronger labor market slightly diminished the hope of the Fed lowering the rate early next year. Gold price also dropped with the US dollar index rallied.”

Coinglass data shows that there had been over $335 million in liquidations over the last 12 hours, with $300 million in long positions being liquidated.

Bitcoin and ether lead the way in the liquidation heatmap, with over $89 million in bitcoin positions getting liquidated and $74 million in ether.

“The recent minor correction in the broader market is part of the rational process of profit-taking as traders might have hit the price target at the end of the year given BTC rallied over 70% since Oct," Lucy Hu, Senior Analyst, at Metalpha said in an interview on WeChat.

"We will closely follow the CPI and U.S. Fed meeting this week, which could potentially result in further corrections,” she added.

On-chain analyst Willy Woo wrote on X that the market may see a correction in bitcoin prices down to $39,700.

The Bitcoin CME Gap at 39,700 refers to a situation where bitcoin's price on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange jumped, leaving a gap at $39,700, and historically, such gaps usually get filled, meaning the price often returns to this level. Price gaps in the CME futures market for bitcoin occur due to its hours of operation being aligned with U.S. trading hours, leading to potential price differences at market open and close.

UPDATE (Dec. 11, 06:17 UTC): Updates headline and price.

CORRECTION (March 26, 2024, 14:49 UTC): Adjusts the description of VDX to reflect that it is not a licensed exchange.