Bitcoin falls to $98,000 amid increased volatility

It has been a rollercoaster of a day for Bitcoin. Its price hit an all-time high above $100,000 earlier, followed by a drop to $98,000 moments ago.

As previously reported by CryptoPotato, the move above $100,000 followed Donald Trump’s decision to make Paul Atkins the new chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In the words of the president-elect himself:

“Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulation. He believes in the promise of robust and innovative capital markets that respond to the needs of investors and provide capital to make our economy the best in the world. (…) It also recognizes that digital assets and other innovations are crucial to making America greater than ever.”

The price soared to a high of over $104,000 later in the day, but the bears weren’t done.

In the last few hours, BTC has been bleeding and just dropped to almost $98,000 moments ago.

Source: TradingView

This resulted in nearly $650 million of liquidated positions in the derivatives market, a 45% increase in 24 hours. Most of these are long traders, accounting for more than $400 million in liquidations. Of course, BTC is the market where most traders are wiped out.

With this latest dump, many altcoins are also trading in the red. An example is Ripple’s XRP, which is down 3% on the day. Interestingly, it remains the best performer of the week, gaining close to 60%.

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