A Bitcoin trader lost $2.5 billion in 24 hours, as cryptocurrency market crashes

Bitcoin shed a fifth of its value on Saturday as a combination of profit-taking and macro-economic concerns triggered nearly a billion dollars worth of selling across cryptocurrencies.

Based on cryptocurrency data platform Coingecko, market capitalisation of 11,392 coins it tracks fell 15% to $2.34 trillion. That value had briefly crossed $3 trillion last month, when bitcoin hit a record $69,000. (Reuters/File)

As the cryptocurrency market crashed by 16.5 percent on Saturday, a Bitcoin trader lost at least USD $2.5 billion in a single day. The mystery trader, who owns 288,000 Bitcoin, suffered huge losses in the early hours of Saturday morning.

According to BitInofCharts, the trader had $16.29 billion worth of Bitcoin on Friday. On Saturday morning, the crypto market plummeted, dropping his crypto-asset worth to $15.45 billion and then to $13.81 billion by the evening. The fall ultimately wiped out $2.48 billion in one day.

Bitcoin shed a fifth of its value on Saturday, and some analysts called the market crash “profit-booking” time, as the cryptocurrency market hit its recent high. Justin d’Anethan, Hong Kong-based head of exchange sales at cryptocurrency exchange EQONEX, told Reuters that he had been watching the increase in leverage ratios across the cryptocurrency markets as well as how large holders had been moving their coins from wallets to exchanges. The latter is usually a sign of intent to sell.