Bitcoin [BTC] and that of Ethereum [ETH] The big overnight dip left the market stunned. What caused the decline? Is this the start of something new?
Here’s the overview.
Bullcember? No
Source: TradingView
Bitcoin and Ethereum both opened in December with back-to-back hourly breakdowns. BTC fell from around $86,300 to almost $85,000 in one hour, followed by a continued bleed towards $85,800.
The series shows a clear change from steady consolidation to an abrupt sell-off, with no meaningful recovery attempts on subsequent candles.
Source: TradingView
Ethereum also moved similarly. The price dropped from around $2,825 to just above $2,806 during the first big red candle, then dropped back towards $2,820 before falling further.
The pattern on both charts resembles a synchronized market-wide decline, hitting both majors at the same time and erasing hours of sideways stabilization in a matter of minutes.
Liquidation records show the damage
Liquidation records show how widespread the damage was.
Over the past 24 hours, traders absorbed $647.25 million in liquidations, with longs taking the biggest hit at $572.91 million. BTC alone saw $201.89 million cleared, while ETH followed with $159.20 million.
Source: CoinGlass
Other majors were not spared either. The ‘Others’ category recorded $73.86 million, with Solana [SOL] at $35.09 million and Ripple’s [XRP] almost $15.67 million.
The largest liquidation was an ETHUSDC position worth $14.48 million.
The 12-hour window makes the wipeout concentration clear: $571.90 million was washed away, almost entirely from long positions.
Pressure on the sales side
Source: SoSoValue
ETF data indicates a clear cooling in demand leading to a decline. Bitcoin spot ETFs saw net inflows of just $71.37 million, after several days of heavy outflows as high as -$1.1 billion.
Source: SoSoValue
Ethereum ETFs also showed weakness, with long periods of negative daily flows and assets falling towards $19.15 billion.
Source: Santiment
Whale activity was elevated in both BTC and ETH, with frequent spikes in transactions above $1 million. Large holders actively moved funds, which usually comes with volatility.
Source: CryptoQuant
In addition, Bitcoin exchange net flow diagram shows the inflows, including a major spike of almost -350,000 BTC. This is accompanied by price weakness around $86K.
Final thoughts
- Massive long-term liquidations and declining demand for ETFs may have caused the sudden eradication of BTC and ETH.
- Increased whale activity and currency exchange inflows mean more volatility is on the way.