Crypto Market Plunges: Liquidations Surpass $334M as BTC and ETH Tumble

The cryptocurrency market has faced a bumpy ride as investors respond to the most recent economic and policy news. Market sentiment is still poor owing to fresh tariff announcements and Donald Trump’s Executive Order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. However, the uncertainty surrounding funding for the reserve has caused unease, and this has set off a wave of liquidations in top cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Lead Market Decline

While the initial optimism regarding Trump’s Executive Order was high, the reaction of the crypto market has been negative overall. QCP analysts think that investor confidence is tenuous because there is no real budget allocation for buying Bitcoins. This has created uncertainty among traders, adding to market volatility.

$334 Million Liquidation Shakes the Market

The sudden crypto market crash has prompted huge liquidations, with long-position traders hit the hardest. More than $334 million in liquidations were witnessed in the past 24 hours, impacting more than 109,704 traders.

Bitcoin experienced the maximum liquidation amount, with $186.35 million liquidated, of which long traders incurred a loss of $123.21 million. Ethereum had a total of $40.84 million in liquidations, whereas XRP accounted for $7.3 million in losses.

Altcoins including Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE), Sui (SUI), and Litecoin (LTC) also saw intense sell-offs. The sudden selling has heightened market volatility, such that it’s difficult for investors to forecast near-term direction.

Crypto Reserve Plan Faces Pushback from Industry Leaders

Trump’s Executive Order suggested the addition of Cardano (ADA), XRP, and Solana (SOL) to the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, but the move has been vehemently opposed by industry leaders.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Real Vision’s Raoul Pal believe that Bitcoin must be kept as the primary reserve asset. Armstrong thinks Bitcoin is the ideal substitute for gold, while Pal proposed that the reserve be market-cap-weighted instead of adding altcoins with comparatively lower adoption and liquidity.

Compounding the uncertainty are the latest revelations by the U.S. government that it doesn’t own any SOL, ADA, or XRP, defying earlier speculations. As much as Trump’s Executive Order seeks to build a digital asset reserve, Crypto Czar David Sacks clarified that the reserve would be restricted to assets acquired through forfeiture, and no new purchases would be made.

What Lies Ahead for the Crypto Market?

The crypto market is at present experiencing an era of utmost uncertainty concerning economic variables, policy updates, and market sentiment fluctuations. Investors and traders are anxiously following updates concerning Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, government asset redeployment, and possible regulatory adjustments.

Though Bitcoin is the preeminent asset in crypto, the participation of altcoins in the Strategic Reserve is subject to controversy. Should the government pursue a plan of a single Bitcoin reserve, it would reinforce Bitcoin as the store of value for digital money and could further create demand for the asset over the long term.