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The crypto world experienced a whirlwind of activity following the dissemination of incorrect news about BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF by Cointelegraph on October 16.
CoinMarketCap showed a surge in global crypto market value to $1.12 trillion at a price per BTC of over $39.388 soon after the erroneous news went live. Notably, this value marked a two-week high. This surge also saw the 24-hour trading volume in the digital currency space hitting roughly $63 billion. However, the high didn’t last. Once BlackRock dismissed the news of their ETF approval, the market plummeted, reducing the global market value to a mere $1.08 trillion at $27,855 per coin. At press time, the flagship cryptocurrency is trading at $28,455.
Cointelegraph was quick to retract and apologize for their mistake, pledging to delve into the reasons behind the misreporting.
Following the misinformation, many traders faced significant losses, with Bitcoin derivatives taking a major hit. Trading platforms like Binance, Bybit, and OKX were especially affected. The result? A rough estimation of $74 million lost. Many traders saw their positions in derivatives forcibly liquidated. According to Coinalyze, post the steep drop in the market, short positions amounting to $56.6 million faced liquidation. Concurrently, long positions to the tune of $18.4 million were closed. Out of the liquidated short positions, a hefty $51 million originated from perpetual futures from exchanges such as OKX, Binance, and ByBit.
Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, did address the speculations surrounding the Bitcoin ETF. Speaking to FOX News, he said, “I can’t talk about the specifics of anything, I think it’s just an example of the pent-up interest in crypto. We are hearing from clients around the world about the need for crypto.”