On Thursday, bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, descended to an intraday low of $91,215, reflecting a decline exceeding 3% against the U.S. dollar. The collective valuation of the crypto economy contracted by 2.5% in the past 24 hours, settling at $3.22 trillion.
Crypto Economy Tumbles: Bitcoin Nears $90K as Sell-Off Intensifies
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Bitcoin Battles to Stay Afloat as Market Faces South Korean Premium
Over the preceding month, the crypto market has shed $420 billion in value. As of Jan. 9, 2025, bitcoin is precariously close to breaching the $90,000 threshold. It registered a 3% drop today against the dollar and has fallen 5.5% compared to its value seven days ago.
The ripple effects of this downturn have been profound, with solana ( SOL) emerging as the most severely impacted among the top ten cryptocurrencies, plunging by 6.8%. While tether ( USDT) remains a significant player in trade activity, bitcoin has seen $61.42 billion in 24-hour trading volume, much of which has been dominated by selling pressure.
Tether has achieved a staggering $122 billion in trading volume over the past day, as market participants increasingly exchange bitcoin and various altcoins for this dollar-pegged stablecoin. Similar trends are observed with USDC and FDUSD. On Thursday, USDT stood as bitcoin’s primary trading pair, followed by USD, FDUSD, USDC, KRW, and EUR.
Notably, in South Korea, bitcoin is trading at a premium; while the global average hovers around $91,877, it fetches $95,301 on Upbit. According to Cryptoquant analytics, the Coinbase Premium Gap is negative $23.98 at press time. This comes in the wake of news that the U.S. Justice Department has secured approval to liquidate over $6 billion worth of bitcoin.
Within the Cryptoquant community, onchain and market analyst Maartunn remarked, “[36,400] bitcoin have been transferred from short-term holders to exchanges, with the Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR) dropping below 1. This indicates that, on average, these coins are being moved at a loss.”
By 7:19 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, bitcoin was changing hands for $92,671 per unit. Data reveals that within the past 24 hours, cryptocurrency derivatives positions worth $372.44 million have been liquidated, with long positions accounting for $264.50 million of that total. Of these, roughly $63 million represented bitcoin ( BTC) longs.
