Bitcoin crashes below $53K wiping out $600M in leveraged longs

A sudden crypto market nosedive has seen over $600 million in leveraged long positions wiped out, as Bitcoin, Ether and otther cryptocurrencies tumbled sharply.

The price of Bitcoin crashed below $53,000 in a sudden drawdown that saw BTC tumble 10% from $58,350 to as low as $52,500 in less than two hours on Aug. 5. 

Bitcoin (BTC) has since regained some ground since the abrupt flash crash and is trading for $54,384 at the time of publication, per TradingView data. 

The last time BTC traded below $53,000 was on Feb. 26 earlier this year, as the price rallied following the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. 

The sharp downward move has now seen over $740 million in leverage positions wiped out across the crypto market in the last 24 hours, with just over $644 million in leveraged longs being liquidated, per CoinGlass data. 

Notably, traders looking to gain leveraged exposure to Ether (ETH) were the hardest hit, with over $256 million in ETH longs cleaned up, while $231 million in BTC longs were forcibly closed. Much of this can be traced back to a large increase in the open interest for ETH as traders 

There has been a significant increase in the open interest for ETH over the last few months, with traders flocking to gain exposure to the asset in the lead-up to and aftermath of the approval of spot Ether ETFs in the US. 

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.