Bitcoin liquidations neared $20 Billion on BitMEX; BTC/USD unaffected by the news

• BitMEX report revealed that Bitcoin positions worth $20 billion were liquidated during the year.
• BTC/USD stays range-bound after a failed recovery attempt.

Bitcoin has been gaining ground during the weekend. The first digital coin tested area above $7,500 and retreated to $7,280 by the time of writing. BTC/USD has gained about 2% of its value in recent 24 hours and stayed unchanged since the beginning of Monday. Bitcoins market dominance is registered at 68.4%.

BitMEX positions liquidation

A popular platform for trading cryptocurrency derivatives, BitMEX, revealed that Bitcoin liquidations neared $20 billion in 2019. While in 2017 most cryptocurrency trades were processed on spot exchanges, in 2018 and 2019 the trend changed as many investors moved to the derivatives in hopes to maximize their profits from cryptocurrency trading. 

However, bouts of volatility in the course of 2019 resulted in numerous position liquidations to the tune of billions of dollars.  Notably, both long and short positions have been liquidated, however, about 90% of the above-mentioned liquidations were attributed to long positions, which means that the positioning was largely skewed long.

It is worth noting, that the real value of Bitcoin liquidated is closer to $800 million, as BitMEX positions are mostly leveraged. 

Bitcoin on recovery mode

Bitcoin hit the low at $6,432 on December 25 and has been recovering ever since. The first digital coin tested area above $7,600; however, the upside momentum was not strong enough for the price to stay above critical resistance area strengthened by SMA50 (Simple Moving Average) on a daily and a weekly chart. Once it is out of the way, the upside is likely to gain traction with the next focus on psychological $8,000 with SMA100 daily located above this area. 

The pivotal resistance is created by 50% Fibo retracement from the upside move from December 2018 lows, combined with the upper line of the long-term descending triangle formation. 

On the downside, the initial support comes at $61.8% Fibo retracement at $7,150. It is closely followed by $7,000 and $6,800 with the lower line of the daily Bollinger Band located above this handle. A sustainable move below this area will increase the downside pressure and bring the recent low of $6.432 back into focus. 

BTC/USD, daily chart

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