Bitcoin Continues to Fall Sharply: Below $53,000 Also Seen! So What Causes the Decline?

The world's largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), has lost about 4.5% of its value in the last 24 hours, falling to $52,700 at its lowest point.

The total market value of BTC has reached the critical level of $1 trillion, along with the declines.

Similar declines were observed on the altcoin side as in BTC. However, due to the increasing volatility in the market, a large amount of cryptocurrencies were also liquidated. The data shows that $267 million worth of cryptocurrencies were liquidated in the last 24 hours. $221 million of these were in long positions. A total of 85,109 traders were liquidated.

As might be expected, a significant portion of the liquidations were observed in Bitcoin with $99 million. Ethereum came in second with $59.75 million.

Visual showing the distribution of liquidations in the last 24 hours.

The reason for the decline is shown as the increase in recession concerns following today's employment data and FED member Waller's statements. Traders started to flee from risk assets following these developments.

The S&P 500 fell 1.7% and the Nasdaq 100 fell 2.7%, while new data showed U.S. employment growth in August fell by 23,000 jobs in the U.S. in 2018, below expectations. Yields on two-year Treasuries fell as much as 15 basis points before paring some of their losses.

“Markets are turning their attention to how much the Fed will ease and how quickly the economy slows,” said Scott Wren, chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “Expect near-term volatility.”

*This is not investment advice.