n July 21st, President Joe Biden announced that he won't run for re-election in 2024. This news had an impact on markets and the cryptocurrency industry. Within half an hour of Biden’s statement, $67 million worth of long positions were liquidated as Bitcoin took a sudden 2.3% dip before quickly bouncing back.
The Initial Market Response
At first, the response in the market was intense. Between 5:30-6:00 pm UTC on July 21st, around $67 million worth of liquidations occurred in the market when Bitcoin fell to $65,880, according to Coinglass data.
Fortunately, Bitcoin recovered swiftly and surged to $68,480 within the hour. Major exchanges like Binance and OKX faced liquidations exceeding $100 million during this half-hour period following Biden's announcement.
Broader Effects over 12 hours
Looking at the effects over 12 hours from 10 am-10 pm UTC, a substantial amount of long positions valued at $81 million and short positions over $53 million were liquidated during this timeframe. Bitcoin witnessed liquidations surpassing $43 million, Ether at around $31 million and Solana lost $8.6 million. Positions totaling $134.5 million were closed within that 12-hour window since July began.
Insights and Interpretation
Experts in the industry noted that Biden’s choice affected the likelihood of Trump or another candidate. Moreover, a large purchase order contributed to Bitcoin’s bounce. The high number of liquidations highlighted the risks of using leverage during times of news events. Moving forward, traders should monitor how the policies proposed by the 2024 candidates may impact cryptocurrency as these aspects will remain important.
