Bitcoin flash crashes by $2K in 5 minutes, liquidating $600M in longs
A flash crash on short timeframes for BTC/USD induces panic among long traders, but for analysts, it's business as usual. Bitcoin (BTC) fell over $2,000 in five minutes on March 31 as a wave of volatility disrupted an otherwise calm market.
BTC sees sudden volatility
Cointelegraph Markets Pro and Tradingview showed a nightmare for long traders unfold on Wednesday, with BTC/USD suddenly dropping from $59,350 to $57,000. At the time of writing, the losses were still mounting after the pair hit lows of $56,713 on Bitstamp.
"Exactly Bitcoin," trader Michaël van de Poppe reacted to what has become a familiar event on short timeframes for Bitcoin. Previously, upside had been the focus for day traders as news from PayPal spawned a run-up to just below $60,000.
Those betting on a continuation of the bull run lost big on Wednesday, however, as the downturn liquidated long positions worth $600 million amid a 24-hour total wipeout of $1 billion.
For quant analyst PlanB, their demise was nonetheless beneficial, helping to rid the market of unwanted leverage and ensure more organic future rises. As Cointelegraph reported, similar events have occurred with both long and short positions in recent months.
"Beautiful stop loss hunting .. again," he commented on Twitter. "Now that all leveraged longs are liquidated, we finally have room for breaking $60K in April."
Funding rates creep up
Meanwhile, indicators showed reason to believe that further price increases for Bitcoin would need some work. Funding rates across derivatives platforms were higher on the day, reaching as high as 0.375% on Huobi, a classic sign that downward pressure is incoming.
The longer-term picture remains more than positive, with analysts pointing to $68,000 and $73,000 as the next hurdles to watch.
Top Cryptocurrencies with Price Predictions
| # | Crypto | Prediction | Accuracy | CVIX | Price | 24h | 7d | Market Cap | 7d price change | |
| 1 |  BTC |
Bitcoin predictions | 75.2% | 40 | $61 168.42 | 1.56% | -7.74% | $1 208 863 783 447 |  |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  ETH |
Ethereum predictions | 77.6% | 44 | $2 363.94 | 1.94% | -11.89% | $284 555 397 399 |  |
|
| 3 |  USDT |
Tether predictions | 96% | 1 | $0.999717 | -0.02% | -0.07% | $119 608 189 522 |  |
|
| 4 |  BNB |
Binance Coin predictions | 76.4% | 51 | $548.16 | 1.78% | -10.22% | $79 994 624 748 |  |
|
| 5 |  SOL |
Solana predictions | 74% | 54 | $139.68 | 3.46% | -12.80% | $65 438 871 809 |  |
|
| 6 |  USDC |
USD Coin predictions | 96% | 1 | $0.999890 | -0.02% | -0.01% | $35 552 716 137 |  |
|
| 7 |  XRP |
XRP predictions | 77.6% | 39 | $0.519599 | 0.32% | -12.41% | $29 390 622 034 |  |
|
| 8 |  DOGE |
Dogecoin predictions | 80% | 39 | $0.107282 | 4.49% | -15.66% | $15 687 645 053 |  |
|
| 9 |  TRX |
TRON predictions | 92.8% | 1 | $0.157265 | 1.83% | 1.38% | $13 617 488 900 |  |
|
| 10 |  TON |
Toncoin predictions | 76% | 49 | $5.34 | 1.91% | -11.37% | $13 522 991 190 |  |
|
| 11 |  ADA |
Cardano predictions | 78% | 42 | $0.350367 | 3.93% | -14.09% | $12 247 575 562 |  |
|
| 12 |  AVAX |
Avalanche predictions | 64.4% | 68 | $25.59 | 6.27% | -16.70% | $10 400 143 923 |  |
|
| 13 |  STETH |
Lido stETH predictions | 96% | 1 | $2 941.39 | -0.40% | -3.32% | $10 258 752 564 |  |
|
| 14 |  WTRX |
Wrapped TRON predictions | 93.2% | 1 | $0.116354 | -0.46% | 0.23% | $10 171 995 609 |  |
|
| 15 |  SHIB |
SHIBA INU predictions | 58.8% | 94 | $0.000017 | 9.27% | -19.43% | $10 127 293 790 |  |
