Crypto selloff deepens with $400 million liquidations and rising short interest
Crypto markets fell sharply due to escalating tensions in Iran and rising oil prices, resulting in $400 million in liquidations and increased bearish bets.Summary
Cryptocurrency markets experienced a significant downturn on Thursday as geopolitical tensions in Iran escalated, driving up oil prices and triggering a risk-off sentiment among investors. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) both saw substantial losses, with BTC falling 2.4% and ETH dropping 4.4%. The decline was spurred by comments from U.S. President Donald Trump regarding continued strikes on Iran. Derivatives data indicates a surge in short selling, with funding rates turning negative and open interest rising. Despite the price drops, implied volatility remained stable, suggesting an orderly sell-off rather than panic. DeFi tokens also suffered, with the CoinDesk DeFi Select Index (DFX) losing 5.9%, while Algorand (ALGO) bucked the trend with a slight increase. Approximately $400 million in futures positions were liquidated, a 17% increase from the previous day.
(Source：CoinDesk)