More Than $750M Worth Of Crypto Positions Liquidated On Concerns Over New COVID-19 Variant 'Omicron'

After the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of a new COVID-19 variant named Omicron that was detected in South Africa, the cryptocurrency market went into panic selling on Friday. With Bitcoin (BITCOMP) falling below $63,000 and markets closing in the red, many crypto traders have had their positions liquidated. 

Bitcoin’s decline pulled down the entire market along with it. Over $751 million worth of trader positions in digital assets were wiped out in 12 hours. Among those losses, 85.2% came from investors holding long positions.

Binance long liquidations accounted for the biggest portion of the losses at $266 million, representing 42.22% of the total liquidations. Okex and FTX saw the second and third-largest liquidations, accounting for $143 million and 58.25 million, respectively.

According to technology expert Kate Rooney, the new coronavirus variant is sending shockwaves across markets worldwide. “This is really the same knee-jerk reaction we’re seeing in tech and some of the higher-growth names with news of that COVID-19 variant. Bitcoin is still seen as that riskier asset. The inflation and safe-haven narrative is really not sticking quite yet,” Kate said.