Bitcoin Halves From All-Time High as Billion-Dollar Liquidations Drag Ethereum and XRP Lower

The Quick Take

• Bitcoin plunged to its lowest level since October 2024, with the price now roughly half its all-time high as a wave of liquidations intensified selling.
• Ethereum and XRP were dragged into the sell-off alongside Bitcoin as cross-asset crypto correlation spiked during the mass liquidation event.
• Billions in forced liquidations exacerbated the sell-off, per Wallstreet Online, creating cascading downward pressure across major digital assets.

Bitcoin's decline to its lowest price since October 2024 — approximately half its all-time high — represents a severe retracement that Wallstreet Online described as a cascade dragging Ethereum and XRP into the sell-off alongside the market's dominant asset. German financial media coverage reflects the growing relevance of crypto market volatility to European institutional and retail investors, where Bitcoin ETF products and crypto-regulated vehicles have expanded the investor base significantly since the 2024 US spot ETF approvals. Billions in liquidations represent the mechanical unwinding of leveraged long positions accumulated during the bull market, creating forced selling independent of fundamental news flow.

The magnitude of Bitcoin's retracement — from all-time high to roughly half that level — constitutes a bear market by any conventional definition, with Ethereum and XRP exhibiting even larger percentage drawdowns due to their higher beta relative to Bitcoin. European crypto investors face particular exposure through regulated Bitcoin ETP products traded on Euronext and Deutsche Börse, which saw assets under management contract proportionately. The liquidation cascade creates an opportunity for spot buyers willing to accumulate at steep discounts to all-time highs, but signals against leveraged long positions until exchange net flows stabilize and ETF inflows resume.

Monitor the total crypto market capitalization for a stabilization pattern — historically, sustained capitulation bottoms are confirmed by a combination of sharply declining exchange inflows, stabilizing ETF flows, and a reduction in open interest on futures markets. European crypto ETF redemption volumes over the next two weeks are the near-term demand signal. The macro variable is the ECB's monetary policy stance: European risk appetite for crypto broadly correlates with ECB dovishness, and any rate-cut signal from Frankfurt would improve risk-on sentiment that supports a Bitcoin recovery from its current deeply discounted levels relative to the all-time high.

Synthesized from 1 source.