Fear dominates market as BTC, ETH struggle for support

Crypto markets clawed back some ground on Friday, but traders weren’t buying the bounce. The global digital assets market surged marginally over the last 24 hours to hover around $3.78 trillion. Bitcoin pushed back over $110,000 while Ether managed to regain $4,000 mark.

While the market posted a minor recovery rally, the Fear and Greed depicted among the investors. CoinGlass data shows that more than 133k traders were liquidated over the last 24 hours. The total liquidations turned up around $329 million. The largest single liquidation order of BTC/USDT valued at $3.87 million happened on Binance.

$329M wiped out as crypto rebounds

Data shows that $186 million worth of liquidated bets (56%) turned out to be long positions. However, Short bets amounted to $143 million. This shows that the crypto market is witnessing heavy fluctuations with pumps and dumps. Cryptopolitan reported that Thursday witnessed $1.1 billion liquidation washout.

The recovery coincided with fresh inflation data that matched forecasts. The Fed’s preferred gauge, PCE, rose 2.7% in August, while the core measure was up 2.9%. The numbers were hardly surprising, but they reinforced the sense that price pressures are easing. Analysts suggest that if inflation trends lower, risk assets may find support, but any upside surprises could quickly reset rate cut expectations.

Ethereum led the altcoins’ recovery by rising nearly 4%. ETH is down by 18% from its all-time high of above $4,900. Solana and Dogecoin added marginal gains. After a great run, SOL is trailing by 15% in the last 7 days. It is trading at an average price of $203 at the press time.

However, Hyperliquid’s HYPE token was the lone standout in the top tier. It is up by more than 7% and bucking the sea of red. HYPE price is now up by 86% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. It is trading at an average price of $44.64 at the press time.

Crypto fear hits 5-month low

The Fear and Greed Index dropped to its lowest since April to hit 28 points on the chart. This signals “fear” across the market. Analysts pointed to heavy stress among short-term holders as Bitcoin traded under their cost basis of $109,700 for the first time in five months.

Fear and Greed index, Source: CoinMarketCap

BTC price has been running down by 6% over the last 7 days. It is trading at an average price of $109,601 at the press time. The 24-hour trading dipped by 18% to stand at $60.92 billion.

Some see a silver lining in the cleanout. Analyst Maartunn, in a post, mentioned that roughly $12 billion in leveraged altcoin bets and $3 billion in speculative Bitcoin positions have been flushed.

Stocks and commodities painted a calmer picture as the S&P 500 gained 0.22% and gold edged higher. But a new wrinkle looms with Donald Trump’s latest tariff package set to take effect on October 1. That announcement could shake up risk appetite across markets and crypto.

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