Bitcoin Surges to $64,000 USD, Crypto Market Faces Intense Volatility
After reaching a new high for 2024 at $64,000 USD, Bitcoin immediately underwent a sharp correction, causing significant turbulence across many altcoins.
Crypto Market Volatility at 01:00 AM on February 29, 2024
The cryptocurrency market has witnessed a volatile 24 hours, with Bitcoin recording a surge of over 12%, rising from $57,000 USD to $64,000 USD - marking its highest level in 22 months.
This is the closest BTC has come to its all-time high (ATH) of $69,000 USD since November 2021, signaling one of the most successful trading periods in the history of the leading cryptocurrency market.
1-hour chart of BTC/USDT pair on Binance at 01:00 AM on February 29, 2024
The driving force behind BTC's surge, as reported by Coin68 recently, stems from optimistic investor sentiment fueled by steady buying pressure from Bitcoin spot ETFs. Despite only half a trading session on February 28 (US time), the volumes from the launch of 9 new Bitcoin spot ETFs totaled $2.6 billion USD, breaking the previous record set on February 26.
JEEZ: Only halfway through trading day and New Nine bitcoin ETFs have already broken their all time daily volume record w/ $2.6b. We got 4 btc ETFs in Top 20. $IBIT is #4 overall, it's gonna trade more today than in its first two wks combined. This is officially a craze. pic.twitter.com/Wqez1rKrCg
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 28, 2024
However, immediately after touching the $64,000 USD mark, BTC underwent a sharp correction to $58,700 USD, before recovering to around $61,000 USD at the time of this update.
The intense dump has heavily affected many altcoins, notably ETH, which plummeted from $3,488 USD to $3,176 USD in an instant before rebounding alongside BTC.
1-hour chart of ETH/USDT pair on Binance at 01:00 AM on February 29, 2024
The market's severe fluctuations led to trading disruptions on several exchanges, most notably Coinbase, which displayed zero balances for many users. CEO Brian Armstrong acknowledged the issue was due to overwhelming traffic and assured users that the problem was being addressed.
We are dealing with a LARGE surge of traffic - apologies for any issues you encounter. The team is working to remediate.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) February 28, 2024
Gas fees on the Ethereum network also surged to their highest level in a week during this period.
$ETH price isn't the only thing that's rising at the moment... pic.twitter.com/t0Oqw6eADC
— Nansen 🧭 (@nansen_ai) February 28, 2024
Liquidation data shows over $250 million USD in derivative liquidation orders within the past hour, with the latest 12-hour period totaling nearly $600 million USD. BTC accounted for the majority, followed by other altcoins, with ETH also significantly affected. Both long and short positions suffered similar losses.
Derivative liquidation data on CoinGlass screenshot at 01:05 AM on February 29, 2024
