On Monday, Dec. 1, major cryptocurrencies suffered another sharp decline as sellers persisted amid broader risk-off sentiment.
Bitcoin plunged 5.4% to $86,435 in early trading.
Ethereum fell about 6.1% to $2,843.
Solana dropped more than 7% to roughly $127.
Other closely watched tokens were also in the red, including Dogecoin, which fell about 8.6%.
Ben Emons, founder and CIO of Fedwatch Advisors, said investors remained "nervous" after recent Bitcoin selling and attributed Monday’s reversal largely to a roughly $400 million exchange liquidation. Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe, he highlighted the extreme leverage present on crypto exchanges—in some cases up to 200x—and pointed to an estimated $787 billion of leverage in crypto perpetual futures versus about $135 billion in ETFs. "You can do the math," Emons said, adding: "There is still a lot of leverage in Bitcoin. We can expect more liquidations if Bitcoin prices don’t get away from the lows."
Meanwhile in Asia, a report from the People’s Bank of China warned of illegal activities related to digital currencies, a development that put pressure on shares of digital-asset–related companies listed in Hong Kong. (CNBC; People’s Bank of China)
