Nearly $67 million of leveraged long positions were liquidated from the cryptocurrency market within 30 minutes of United States President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 US presidential election race.
The large liquidations, which took place between 5:30 pm and 6:00 pm UTC on July 21, were triggered by a sharp 2.3% fall in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) to $65,880, according to cryptocurrency markets platform CoinGlass.
However, Bitcoin quickly recovered, reaching a 24-hour high of $68,480, causing traders exposed to leveraged short positions to lose a combined $34 million.
“Biden was not credible to beat Trump so an alternative candidate could have limited Trump’s chances,” said Markus Thielen, founder of cryptocurrency firm 10x Research. “But there is no credible alternative… hence BTC pump.”
Thielen said a “huge” buy order also hit the market around that time, contributing to the sharp recovery.
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Over a wider 12-hour time frame, more than $81.1 million and $53.4 million in long and short positions were wiped out between 10:00 am and 10:00 pm on July 21.
Liquidations included $43.8 million in Bitcoin, $31.1 million in Ether (ETH) and $8.6 million worth of Solana’s (SOL).
The combined liquidations, totaling $134.5 million, marked the highest over a 12-hour period since July 8. Most of the liquidations took place on Binance and OKX, with a total value of $64.5 million and $44 million, respectively.
US Vice President Kamala Harris is considered the likely replacement for Biden as the Democratic Party nominee for president.
Bitcoin is trading at $67,850 at the time of publication, up 0.55% over the last 24 hours.
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