Liquidations hit $50 million in an hour as Bitcoin slid 3% to $58.5k

Bitcoin experienced a sharp decline on Aug. 20, falling below the $59,000 mark as selling pressure intensified, leading to significant liquidations in the crypto market.

The flagship crypto slid over 3% in an hour, giving up almost all of its gains over the previous trading day after touching a weekly high of $61,400.

Bitcoin was trading at $59,000 as of press time, based on CryptoSlate data.

Liquidations

The downward price movement resulted in widespread liquidations across the crypto market, with over $50 million liquidated in an hour, based on Coinglass data.

The liquidation heatmap indicates that Bitcoin accounted for the largest portion of liquidations over the last four hours, with $1.84 million being liquidated. Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) also saw notable liquidations of $396,130 and $178,470, respectively.

Most of these liquidations were concentrated on major exchanges, with OKX leading at $27.29 million and Binance at $23.61 million. The majority of liquidations over the past four hours were long positions, accounting for $57.09 million, while short positions saw $5.76 million liquidated.

Meanwhile, over the past 24 hours, total liquidations amounted to $135.32 million, affecting 46,264 traders. The largest single liquidation order was recorded on Binance, where a BTCUSDT contract valued at $3.17 million was liquidated.

The market volatility and subsequent liquidations highlight the risks involved in leveraged trading within the crypto space. As Bitcoin and other digital assets face ongoing selling pressure, traders are likely to remain cautious, with the potential for further liquidations if bearish momentum continues.

Large-cap performance varies

Ethereum and Solana echoed Bitcoin’s movements, with both giving up the previous day’s gains within the last few hours.

As of press time, ETH was trading at $2,576, while SOL was trading at $142.3.

Meanwhile, BNB, Dogecoin, and XRP managed to retain most of the previous day’s gains despite a slight decline…