FX.co ★ Colossal losses of traders and a sharp decline in the market: causes, consequences, and the uncertain future of bitcoin

Bitcoin made a real breakthrough in February 2021 after repeatedly rewriting the record of maximum value. The interest of large investors, the development of software to expand the possibilities of cryptocurrency, as well as wide publicity in the global media have caused a significant increase in the price of bitcoin. However, many experts agreed that such a sharp jump in the price of the main digital asset is not justified and a price correction will soon await the cryptocurrency.

As analysts at JPMorgan and Elon Musk suggested, the price of bitcoin turned out to be overvalued, and in the past few days, the market has been rapidly adjusting the quotes of bitcoin. Having reached a record high of $58,300 on the weekend, bitcoin began to fall rapidly, and over the past three days has fallen in price by $10,000. The main crypto asset has leveled off a little and holds indicators at $48,400. Over the past day alone, the cost of bitcoin fell by 12%, which caused colossal losses for retailers - more than $4.4 billion.

Due to the cryptocurrency decline, exchanges have liquidated the positions of 466,000 users. The largest loss of a single trader was $20.6 million. Almost 90% of closed trades were long, which suggests that traders were hoping to increase their profits, counting on further growth in major cryptocurrencies. Transactions for $2 billion were paired with bitcoin, another $1 billion in closed positions on Ethereum.

The sharp drop in the price of bitcoin turned out to be very painful, but necessary for further growth. Despite the huge losses for traders, the price correction pacified the fervor of bitcoin, which clearly did not match the price of $58,000. The continued growth of the cryptocurrency was associated with the situational mood of investors, who were inspired by the Tesla Motors case and began to storm the cryptocurrency market against the backdrop of good economic indicators. In this regard, bitcoin "suffered" more than the others, because most of the investments were directed specifically to it.

Bitcoin showed signs of independent growth and even some resilience. However, the past few weeks have begun to transform this advantage into a clear disadvantage. The first digital asset could become hostage to investment and economic sentiment in the global financial markets. Its growth and development would be directly dependent on the current indicators of economic growth, and, as a result, the asset would turn into a seasonal investment instrument showing abnormally unstable numbers.

The market correction, to some extent, interrupted this vicious circle, allowing bitcoin to take the pause necessary for its further growth. We assumed that the growth of the first cryptocurrency would continue until the end of February, but the digital asset significantly outstripped the wildest expectations, reaching $58,000 within a few days. There is every reason to believe that bitcoin will reach $67,000 in the spring. The more global growth of the first cryptocurrency and the entire digital asset market will depend on investor behavior and future Visa and Mastercard projects, which could stall if bitcoin continues to show dependence on sharp and short-term injections from large companies.