Ether slumped as much as 9% to $4,075 as nearly half a billion dollars of leveraged long positions in the second-largest token were liquidated, according to data from Coinglass. Bitcoin declined almost 3% to $111,998.
Insatiable demand from publicly-listed vehicles bent on hoarding tokens drove both Bitcoin and Ether to all-time highs in August, but there are now signs that the momentum generated by so-called digital-asset treasury companies is beginning to fade. Japan’s Metaplanet, a high-profile Bitcoin buyer, is down about 67% from a mid-June peak.
“It feels like the market needs a breather, with some participants concerned that the ‘DAT-trade’ is losing steam and there are no more meaningful inflows on the horizon,” said George Mandres, senior trader at XBTO Trading.
On Monday, more than 407,000 traders were liquidated over a 24-hour period, the Coinglass data show. The selloff dragged the overall digital-asset market capitalisation beneath $4 trillion.Bitcoin was trading at $112,804 and Ether at $4,208 as of 9:12 a.m. in London.