As the second week of August begins, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has surpassed the $4 trillion mark, officially setting a new all-time high. With improved trading sentiment, bullish expectations further deepen the imbalance between buy and sell positions. Therefore, some altcoins may face significant liquidation this week if prices move contrary to the expectations of short-term leveraged traders.
1. Ethereum
The 7-day liquidation chart of Ethereum shows a significant imbalance between the accumulated liquidation volume on both the buy and sell sides. Traders continue to allocate capital and leverage to bet that ETH will continue to rise after surpassing the $4,300 level.
Coinglass data shows that long buy orders could lose over $5 billion if ETH drops 7% this week and falls below $4,000. Conversely, if the price of ETH rises 7% to $4,600, there will be $2 billion liquidated by short sell orders.
Some traders are concerned that the cash flow is primarily going into ETH, while other altcoins are not receiving similar inflows. They believe that ETH's rally could lack sustainability if buying pressure gradually decreases, potentially leading to a sharp decline and liquidation of up to $7 billion.
Investor Marzell stated: “If Ethereum drops to $3,600, more than $7 billion in buy positions will be liquidated - an extremely attractive liquidity source for exchanges… As liquidity primarily flows into ETH while other altcoins remain inactive, this indicates that ETH may be positioning itself to balance the overall cryptocurrency market capitalization in response to potential dominating moves by Bitcoin.”
2. Ethena
Ethena (ENA) is one of the most discussed altcoins in August. Thanks to the GENIUS Act passed on July 18, Ethena's stablecoin USDE reached a market capitalization of $10 billion, becoming the third-largest stablecoin after USDT and USDC.
The bullish sentiment for ENA has surged, pushing the price from $0.50 to over $0.80 in August. A recent report from BeInCrypto indicates that whale investors are still accumulating ENA, and the liquidation chart reflects traders' expectations for the next short-term profits.
The 7-day liquidation map of ENA shows that the total accumulated liquidation volume of long buyers far exceeds the volume of short sellers.
If ENA drops to the psychological support level of $0.70 this week, buy orders could incur losses of more than $70 million. On the other hand, if ENA rises to $0.90, sell orders would only lose $16.5 million.
Some traders believe that ENA could continue to rise to $1.50. However, they warn that this token may face profit-taking pressure in the $0.80–$0.90 range.
3. XRP
While many altcoins show an imbalance on the liquidation map in favor of bullish expectations from short-term traders, XRP presents a different picture.
A recent report from BeInCrypto stated that Ripple has unlocked 1 billion XRP, raising concerns about downward pressure. Technical signals also suggest that sellers may soon take control.
It may be for these reasons that the 7-day liquidation map of XRP shows traders putting more money into the bearish scenario.
If XRP moves against this downward trend, short sellers could suffer heavy losses this week.
Specifically, if XRP rises 8% to $3.50, nearly $500 million in short positions will be liquidated. Conversely, if XRP drops 8% to $3.00, the buy orders will face approximately $370 million in liquidation.