There was a carnage in cryptocurrency markets on Friday as trade tensions between the United States and China escalated and Trump threatened a massive increase in tariffs against Chinese goods.
The hardest hit among the components of the crypto benchmark CoinDesk 20 index was Ethereum’s native ether token. falling 7% from Friday’s session high and reaching its weakest price since late September below $4,100. Its fall far exceeded that of bitcoin 3.5% drop below $118,000 and 5% drop in the index.
The widespread market slowdown triggered a cascade of liquidations in crypto derivatives markets, wiping out more than $600 million in leveraged trading positions across all assets, CoinGlass data shows.
ETH also led liquidations with over $235 million of long positions wiped out during the session. Long positions are leveraged bets that seek to benefit from the increase in the asset’s price.
Technical breakdown
Behind the liquidation cascade was the breakout of ETH’s critical support levels, CoinDesk Research’s technical analysis model suggested.
• Selling pressure materialized around 14:00 UTC with volume of 372,211 units, almost double the 24-hour average of 190,747 units.
• Volume-based resistance was confirmed around $4,287.
• Primary resistance identified at $4,141 during a failed recovery attempt.
• Potential support forming just below $4,100 where buyers emerged.
