Black Friday crypto crash: Bitcoin slumps below $55k, over $300M liquidated in an hour

Bitcoin’s latest attempt to reclaim the $60,000 benchmark has been foiled by the bears as the flagship cryptocurrency plunged to its lowest levels since the second week of October.

Late Thursday, Bitcoin surpassed $59,000 for the first time in several days. However, attempts to beat the resistance ended in a retreat following a hefty $5,000 red daily candle. Within an hour, liquidations rose to over $300 million as Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market saw massive losses. As of press time, Bitcoin was trading at $55,000 after falling to a 24-hour low of $54,500.

The latest market crash may not be unconnected with reports of a new mutated variant of COVID-19. Bitcoin lost more than $3,000 an hour after the news broke.

Several altcoins did not respond well to Bitcoin’s fall. Ethereum, for instance, is currently trading at around $4,000, a 5% daily drop. Similarly, Solana, Polkadot, Ripple, Dogecoin, Avalanche, and CRO have also lost substantial chunks of value – between 9% and 15% on a 24-hour candle.

As for liquidations, on-chain data shows that more than $300 million was wiped away within an hour and over $600 million on a daily scale.