The cryptocurrency market is experiencing one of its strongest sell-offs in months today (Monday), testing levels not seen since the beginning of 2024. Bitcoin (BTC) has shed 25% of its total value in just 4 days, shrinking by $320 billion. The rest of the cryptocurrency market lost practically the same amount.

Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies Face Strongest Sell-Off in a Year

Bitcoin's price is falling by nearly 14% during Monday's session, testing levels below the psychological support of $50,000. This is BTC's lowest price point since February and marks the fourth day of very strong selling pressure.

In total, the price has contracted by 25%, or about $16,000. In dollar terms, $320 billion has evaporated from the Bitcoin market since last Friday, erasing the value stubbornly built by crypto bulls at the beginning of the year.

The BTC sell-off wave has caused altcoins to lose massively as well, with the total scale of the sell-off now reaching $600 billion. This is the strongest bleeding of digital assets in over a year.

According to experts and analysts, the main reason for the sudden change in sentiment on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and major altcoins is the deteriorating condition of the stock market, with which digital assets are strongly correlated.

For example, the S&P 500 index lost nearly 2% last Friday and fell to two-month lows at 5,346 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid even more sharply, testing levels last observed in May.

"The wider digital token space is following steep losses in global stock markets amid fears of a slowdown in the US economy that is spurring speculation of an emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve," commented Arthur Firstov, Chief Business Officer at Mercuryo, the payment infrastructure providder for crypto. "Panic has swept across cryptocurrency markets as participants witness waves of selling pressure."

The strong depreciation of the US stock market was triggered not only by local economic data and concerns about the Federal Reserve's (Fed) future monetary policy but also by a crash in global stock markets. Global concerns were sparked by the Japanese market, where the Nikkei index lost 20% over three days. Monday's declines exceeded 10%, pushing the Tokyo stock exchange benchmark to its lowest levels since November 2023.

$1 Billion in Leveraged Longs Vanishes from the Market

The scale of losses in the cryptocurrency market and the money actually lost by investors is also shown by data on the value of liquidations of long leveraged positions.

CoinGlass data shows that liquidations of long positions over the past 24 hours reached nearly $1 billion. $406 million in longs disappeared from Bitcoin derivatives, and another $370 million from long positions on Ethereum .

Companies associated with digital assets, including publicly traded Bitcoin miners on Wall Street, are also losing on the dynamic slide of cryptocurrencies. Shares of Marathon Digital Holdings, the largest BTC producer on Nasdaq, fell by over 5% on Friday and tested levels from May. The depreciation exceeded 20% in just one week. Previously, the company's shares were hurt by news of a $138 million fine imposed on it.