Bitcoin Plunges on Day Two of ETF Mania as Liquidations Soar

Bitcoin buzz cooled on Friday, one day after the first spot Bitcoin ETFs began trading in the United States, as crypto traders appeared to sell the news—sending the price of the leading cryptocurrency tumbling after days of recent gains.

Late Friday morning, Bitcoin plunged about 6% to hit a low of $43,413 per data from CoinGecko, though it is ticking upward again at a current price of $43,547 as of this writing.

Bitcoin neared $49,000 on Thursday for the first time since 2021 as the first spot ETFs began trading in the United States. However, that momentum was short-lived, and the price continued trickling down overnight until falling sharply in the last couple hours.

Over $90 million worth of Bitcoin positions have been liquidated in the last 24 hours, per data from CoinGlass, including $76 million worth of long positions and over $14 million in shorts. Almost $30 million worth of long liquidations have come in the last hour alone as Bitcoin’s dip accelerated.

Interestingly, Ethereum has seen an opposite trajectory, largely rising this week as crypto investors consider the possibility ahead of spot Ethereum ETFs in the United States. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told CNBC on Friday that he can “see value” in such offerings. The Wall Street goliath filed for a spot Ethereum ETF in the U.S. in November.

Ethereum is up nearly 19% this week, almost touching $2,700 Friday morning for the first time since April 2022. Ethereum scaling networks Arbitrum and Optimism also set all-time high prices for their respective tokens earlier Friday.