At 3 AM last night, the cryptocurrency market experienced severe volatility, with Bitcoin's price plummeting rapidly, leading to a large number of long positions being liquidated. The total amount of liquidations across the network reached $628 million, with long liquidations amounting to $459 million and short liquidations totaling $168 million. A total of 139,847 individuals faced liquidation. The largest single liquidation occurred in Bitcoin, valued at approximately $12.4876 million.
This drop is related to a Bitcoin ancient whale, who has been 'asleep for seven years,' recently making headlines by swapping to ETH and selling BTC. Currently, this whale's address still holds 67,118 BTC, worth about $7.62 billion. Similar moves by such whales to exchange Bitcoin for Ethereum have become increasingly common and are considered one of the reasons for Bitcoin's relatively slow growth in this cycle.
The current selling pressure on Bitcoin mainly comes from these early holders. They reached a peak in holding around 2011, when their buying cost was no more than $10. Now, for each BTC sold, the market requires over $110,000 in new funds to absorb it. It can be said that Bitcoin is experiencing a 'growing pain,' needing these early investors, who have profited manifold, to be gradually absorbed by the market.
It is worth noting that the whale's selling is not purely for cashing out; it is more about reallocating to Ethereum. With institutional funds continuously flowing in and the transfer of whale funds, ETH is performing strongly, consistently breaking new highs, and its exchange rate against BTC is also continuously strengthening. Market funds are making a choice, and Ethereum may become the focus of the market moving forward—in other words, the stage has been handed over to ETH
