From CryptoPotato · By Wayne Jones
Four large crypto traders have suffered individual liquidations of more than $10 million each in the aftermath of Bitcoin falling below $69,000.
The losses are part of a wider derivatives market rout that saw more than $1.6 billion liquidated in 24 hours, with leveraged bullish bets taking the biggest hits.
Four Crypto Whales Lose More Than $143M in Liquidations
According to the blockchain analytics account Lookonchain, a wallet identified as 0x6046 lost exposure to 12,742 ETH worth approximately $25.2 million and 536.89 BTC valued at $38.77 million.
A second address, 0x01e2, which the analytics platform had earlier described as a “gambler” after it got hit by six liquidations in 12 hours covering 404.86 BTC ($28.9 million), had another 511 BTC worth $36.4 million liquidated when the asset’s price plunged below its November 2021 peak.
The third wallet lost a 357.09 BTC position valued at just over $25 million, while the fourth, 0x4a20, which suffered the least damage among the observed whales, had positions in Solana ($9 million), Bitcoin ($5.85 million), and Ethereum ($3.52 million), all wrecked. In total, the four heavy hitters were washed for about $143.89 million.
Other trading accounts also came under pressure, with a whale who had held two long positions, the first with 1,236 BTC going for just over $102 million and the second with 15,928 ETH priced at $38.67 million, which came to more than $140 million, getting fully liquidated in the last two days and ending up losing more than $17 million.
And it wasn’t just traders looking over their shoulders. Lookonchain also identified an address said to belong to a hacker that apparently panicked and sold 1,500 ETH it had received from Tornado Cash at $1,988 in fear of prices going even lower.
Indeed, at the time of writing, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency was changing hands just a few bucks above $1,900, having dipped by 5% in 24 hours and almost 13% in 7 days.
Bitcoin’s Decline Triggers a Wider Leverage Wipeout
The whale losses chronicled by Lookonchain coincided with an increasingly difficult session for crypto markets, with market cap dropping by nearly 4%, per CoinGecko data, as BTC struggled to hold the $69,000 level.
CoinGlass’s liquidation tracker recorded approximately $1.64 billion in liquidations within 24 hours, with long positions accounting for $1.46 billion or 88% of the total, and shorts taking nearly $183 million worth of hits.
Of the aforementioned total, $905 million fell on BTC traders, with 96% of that involving long plays, while Ethereum recorded $285 million, of which 90% came from bullish positions. Furthermore, the pressure went beyond derivatives, as Bitcoin recorded approximately $671 million in net spot taker selling, while US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $47 million flow out on November 12.