Bitcoin Liquidations Surge to $56 Million Soon After Fed Meeting, What’s Happening?

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Soon after the US Fed meeting on Wednesday, July 31, the Bitcoin (BTC) price has seen strong selling pressure dropping by 3% all the way to $64,000 as of press time. This has led to strong BTC liquidations surging to over $56 million in the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin Liquidations Surge

On Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell decided to keep rates unchanged at 5.25-5.5% while hinting at the likelihood of a 25 bps rate cut in September if inflation data for July comes on the expected lines.

Although this development was per the market expectations, it turned out to be a sell-the-news event. Along with BTC, altcoins have also been facing strong selling pressure leading to $193 million in market-wide liquidations. BTC and ETH contribute to over 50% of the total liquidations.

As per data from Coinglass, more than $45 million has been in Bitcoin long liquidations while $10.94 million has been in short liquidations. Similarly, Ethereum registered $55 million in total liquidations in the last 24 hours, with 80% being long liquidations. The Ethereum price has also crashed 3.3% slipping under $3,200.

Interestingly, crypto exchange Mt. Gox made an official announcement of BTC and BCH repayments on July 31. Over the past month, Mt. Gox has distributed assets to more than 17,000 creditors.

Also Read: Mt. Gox Transfers 45,511 Bitcoins to Repay Creditors, BTC Selloff Looms

Furthermore, Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff stated that there’s no reason to cheer about a September rate cut this early. He expressed skepticism over Powell’s confidence in achieving the 2% inflation target. Schiff added that if Powell is not confident now, there’s no reason he would be confident in September. Schiff suggested that Powell likely knows there is no way inflation is headed back down to 2% and is waiting until September to cut rates to give investors the false impression that it is.

If #Powell is not confident that #inflation is headed to 2% now, there is no reason that he would gain that confidence by Sept. Powell likely knows there’s no way inflation is headed back down to 2%. So he’s waiting until Sept. to cut rates to fool investors into believing it is.

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) July 31, 2024