First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Slumps Below $54K as Mt. Gox Flags Repayments

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Bitcoin slumped to the lowest since the end of February as Mt. Gox moved a sizeable amount of BTC to a new wallet, potentially preparing for creditor payments. BTC fell to as low as $53,6000 but has subsequently rebounded to just over $55,000, a drop of 4.75% in the last 24 hours. The broader digital asset market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), slid around 6.85%. Impending Mt. Gox repayments include 140,000 BTC ($7.3 billion). There have been concerns that creditors will sell their coins immediately on receipt, creating mass selling pressure in the market.

Major altcoins suffered heavy losses as part of the slump, with ether and dogecoin among the worst affected. ETH has dropped 7.5% while DOGE is down almost 11%. Data from Coinalyze shows that over $580 million worth of bullish bets were liquidated. The largest single liquidation order was on Binance – an ETH trade valued at $18.4 million. Meanwhile, open interest – or the number of unsettled futures bets – dropped 12%, indicating money was leaving the market. Liquidations occur when an exchange forcibly closes a trader’s leveraged position due to a partial or total loss of the trader’s initial margin. It happens when a trader cannot meet the margin requirements for a leveraged position.

Only five mining rigs were profitable for their operators as bitcoin slumped to $54,000 this week, creating a scenario that could mark a “local bottom." "At a rate of $0.08/kWh, ASICs less efficient than 23 W/T operate at a loss," mining giant F2Pool said Friday. A kWh, or kilowatt-hour, measures the energy usage of an electrical device or load. F2Pool’s graph shows four of Antminer’s various rigs and one Avalon rig that are profitable as long as prices are above $53,100. All other miners now cost more to run than the rewards received by operators.

- Jamie Crawley