Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Dip As $250M Crypto Liquidations Strike — Analyst Cautions Fed Rate Cuts Could Fuel Downturn

Major cryptocurrencies experienced a drop on Monday, with $250 million in the crypto derivatives market facing liquidations.

What Happened: The increase in cryptocurrency prices couldn’t be maintained as we approach the April 10 Consumer Price Index (CPI) release, which is anticipated to be higher than expected.

As a result, major cryptocurrencies experienced a decrease in prices, triggering a wave of liquidations in the derivatives market. This caught bullish traders by surprise, resulting in a surge of long liquidations.

In the past 24 hours, over $242.87 million in long positions have been liquidated in the crypto market, with $152 million wiped out in the past 12 hours. When long derivative positions are liquidated without buying pressure from trading volume, it has a negative impact on asset prices.

A total of 83,164 traders were liquidated, and the largest single liquidation occurred with Ether on OKX, amounting to $7.53 million.

Top Gainer (24 Hour)

The global cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.69 trillion, showing a 4.25%  increase in the past 24 hours.

The 30-stock index fell by 9.13 points, representing a 0.02% decrease, closing at 38,883.67. At its lowest point of the session, the Dow experienced a decline of 320.71 points or 0.82%.

On the other hand, the S&P 500 saw a slight increase of 0.14%, ending at 5,209.91, while the Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.32% and concluded at 16,306.64. The March consumer price index report is scheduled for release on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET. According to economists surveyed by Dow Jones, inflation is anticipated to have risen by 0.3% in March on a month-over-month basis.

Investors will closely monitor this data for insights into the potential timing of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Presently, fed funds futures trading data indicates an approximately 42% likelihood of steady rates in June, as per the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

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Analyst Notes: Cryptocurrency analyst Michael Van de Poppe has indicated that Bitcoin is currently trending downward, leading to market consolidation. 

"Good sidenote: Altcoins aren’t dropping that much more, some of them are going up in their Bitcoin values."

Benjamin Cowen suggests that a potential market correction may occur if altcoins start to decline against Bitcoin due to recessionary pressures.

"Will Bitcoin rally beyond April? Will it rally beyond the halving [event in April]? I think the answer to that question is going to be dependent on if alt/Bitcoin pairs break down. If alt/Bitcoin pairs break down in April, then I think you could get a summer correction. If alt/Bitcoin pairs do not break down in April then you might not. Or if maybe they break down in May."

He added, "But it just kind of depends on how well the altcoins hold up because I think the altcoin represents the average consumer, the average retail investor. And if the average retail investor can't keep alt/Bitcoin pairs from breaking down, that means that the Fed has likely gone too far."

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