Nearly $67 million worth of leveraged long positions were liquidated from the cryptocurrency market within 30 minutes of United States President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 election.
The large liquidations, which took place between 5:30 pm and 6 pm UTC on July 21, were triggered by a sharp 2.3% fall in Bitcoin’s (BTC) price to $65,880, according to cryptocurrency markets platform Coinglass.
However, Bitcoin quickly recovered, reaching a 24-hour high of $68,480 — causing traders with exposure to leveraged short positions to lose a combined $34 million.
“Biden was not credible to beat Trump, so an alternative candidate could have limited Trump’s chances,” said Markus Thielen, founder of cryptocurrency firm 10x Research. “But there is no credible alternative …hence BTC pump.”
Thielen said a “huge” buy order also hit the market around that time, contributing to the sharp recovery.
Over a wider 12-hour time frame, more than $81.1 million and $53.4 million in long and short positions were wiped out between 10 am and 10 pm UTC on July 21.
It included $43.8 million worth of Bitcoin and $31.1 million of Ether (ETH), while Solana (SOL) saw $8.6 million liquidated.
The combined liquidations, totaling $134.5 million, marked the highest over a 12-hour period since July 8. Most of the liquidations took place on Binance and OKX, with a total value of $64.5 million and $44 million, respectively.
US Vice President Kamala Harris is considered the likely replacement for Biden as Democrat candidate.
Republican candidate Donald Trump boasts 64% odds to take out the 2024 election, followed by Harris at 31%, according to decentralized predictions platform Polymarket.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $67,850, up 0.55% over the last 24 hours.