Over 122K crypto investors get burnt as Bitcoin dips below $19K

The two largest cryptos by market value, Bitcoin and Ether sank heavily on Monday, on high concerns that there would be a global wave of monetary tightening this week that would affect markets from the US to Europe.

A total of 122,387 traders were liquidated in the last day, leading to $376.09 million in liquidations. The greatest single liquidation order, for $10 million, was made on Bitmex.

The market cap of all cryptocurrencies at the time of writing was $911 billion, down 6.35% from the previous day.

Ether, the leading altcoin dropped by as much as 10% over the previous 24 hours to a two-month low and was trading at roughly around $1,302, while Bitcoin lost about 6% to fall below $19K floor. The losses were greater for tokens like XRP, Avalanche, and Polkadot.

• A disappointing Consumer Price Index (CPI) early in the week caused Bitcoin, the largest crypto in terms of market value to start declining from a perch above $22,000, signaling that the U.S. central bank still had work to do to control inflation
• Although a minimum 75 basis point increase is widely anticipated – a continuation of the Fed’s monetary hawkishness – investors will be eagerly watching the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) decision on a new interest rate hike this week.
• The hype surrounding an upgrade of the Ethereum blockchain caused an increase in the price of ether since mid-June, but now that the upgrade is complete, it is quickly declining. Investors are preparing for volatility as a result of the Federal Reserve’s anticipated this week’s big interest-rate boost to combat pricing pressure.

The pressure on a variety of assets is evidence of this: global stocks are getting closer to eradicating a rise since mid-June, which for many was a bear-market rally. US equities futures Monday was down while the dollar index increased.