Concerns about regulatory enforcement are giving up on recent gains in Bitcoin and altcoins, costing long traders more than a quarter of a billion dollars in a single day.
Bitcoin
BTC
Check the box
23,246 US dollars
Bulls fell on February 10 as they failed to find important support above $22,000.
Crypto wipe fixes as BTC price loses $22,000
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView has BTC/USD down to $21,633 on Bitstamp.
The pair reacted poorly to US regulatory concerns, but has faced bearish sentiment for several days now, with traders expecting a repeat of $21,000 or even lower.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading around $21,800, down about 7% so far in February.
“Bear Market Returns, Are We Expecting a Small Correction?” asked Cointelegraph contributor Michael van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, that day.
Some were busy with short positions as BTC price action met expectations, with popular trader Crypto Tony eyeing $21,400 as a potential bounce zone if losses continue.
“Short profit and my next target is the $21,400 support set. If we see a retest at $22,300, this could be your opportunity to enter a failed retest,” he wrote in a comment alongside an explanatory chart.
Those who remained in long positions felt severe pain during the night. According to data from data resource Coinglass, the long-term liquidation of Bitcoin alone reached $64.6 million on February 9.
On-Chain College, a contributor to analytics platform CryptoQuant, noted that they included $24.3 million in one-hour candles, the most since the FTX crash in early November 2022.
Analysts are looking for “confirmation” below $16,000
Looking beyond immediate price action, CryptoQuant contributor Venturefounder focused on whether Bitcoin really exists at the bottom of the macro.
Related: Arthur Hayes Bets on Bitcoin, Altcoin to Rise in H1 2023 by Buying BTC
If BTC/USD holds the 200-day moving average (DMA) at $20,000, or $19,000, that could be the most important indicator for pricing, he argued that day.
BTC/USD FTX later hit a two-year low below $16,000, prompting strong calls for a move to $12,000 at the time.
“A retest of $19-20k Bitcoin (200 DMA area) would be perfect here,” Venturefounder wrote in his Twitter thread.
Another note claimed: “Holding $19-20k during this correction would be the first confirmation that $16k is the bottom of the Bitcoin cycle.”
