XRP, DOGE lead crypto losses as weekend pullback in Bitcoin causes $500M liquidations

• Bitcoin experienced a significant drop from $98,500 to $95,500 on Sunday, triggering a broader market decline.
• The volatility led to over $500 million in futures liquidations, predominantly affecting smaller altcoins and midcap futures.
• Despite the pullback, market sentiment remains optimistic, with analysts still holding a view of bitcoin reaching the landmark $100,000 figure on various catalysts.

Bitcoin (BTC) pared last week’s gains with a price drop from $98,500 to as low as $95,500 during late U.S. hours on Sunday, before recovering, in a move that sent the broader crypto market tumbling.

BTC dropped more than 3.5% from its peak, with a technical and sentimental pullback on the back of profit-taking, which was widely expected as the token neared the $100K mark.

XRP and dogecoin (DOGE) fell more than 5% to lead losses among majors. Solana’s SOL, ether (ETH), Cardano’s ADA and BNB fell between 2%-5%, before recovering during early Asian hours Monday. Overall market capitalization fell 2.4%. The broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a broad-based liquid index tracking top tokens, is down 1.48% in the past 24 hours.

Markets largely recovered during the early Asian hours Monday, bringing down 24-hour losses to under 2% for all major tokens.

However, crypto-tracked futures took a beating with over $500 million in liquidations on both longs and shorts amid the volatility. Over $366 million in longs, or bullish bets, and $127 million in shorts, or bearish bets, were evaporated, Coinglass data shows.

Small altcoins and futures tracking midcaps recorded over $100 million in liquidations, higher than bitcoin or ether, in an unusual move — indicative of higher risk taking among traders.

However, traders don’t consider the pullback concerning.

“It’s clear that Bitcoin has been leading the market, a key indicator that much of the demand is driven by institutions buying ETFs. Hitting the $100k mark is very likely in the coming week,” Jeff Mei, COO at crypto exchange BTSE, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message Monday. “We also believe that institutions will start buying into the Ethereum ETFs soon and, hopefully, the Solana ones once they’re approved.”

“With the stock market making steady gains and the Trump transition team meeting with a number of crypto executives to discuss pro-crypto policies, it looks promising that this rally will continue into 2025,” Mei added.