Crypto Liquidations Spiked After Biden's Dropout—Now Bitcoin Is Gaining

The price of Bitcoin quickly dipped Sunday after Joe Biden announced that he would drop out of the 2024 presidential election. But while the plunge led to the liquidation of millions of dollars in long positions, it was short-lived.

Bitcoin quickly fell from a price of $67,453 to $65,884 within 30 minutes, per data from CoinGecko, with the uncertainty of such a prominent election shakeup apparently prompting sales. The price charts for other top cryptocurrencies including Ethereum and Solana show similar short-term dives, reflecting the broader market impact at the moment.

But after that, including following Biden's endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place as the Democratic candidate, the prices of Bitcoin and other top assets have climbed to highs not seen in more than a month.

Bitcoin jumped as high as $68,284, a price not seen since June 12, though it has cooled slightly as of this writing. And at a current price of nearly $185, Solana has hit its highest price in two months.

Most of the major political meme coins are minted on Solana, including KAMA, the most valuable Kamala Harris meme coin. KAMA pumped to a new all-time high price on Sunday, rising above $0.025 before cooling off. Conversely, leading Biden token "Jeo Boden" (BODEN) is down 52% on the day, and now is nearly 99% down from its peak price from April.

Amid the volatility, both long and short positions have seen sizable liquidations Sunday. Over the past 24 hours, there have been nearly $159 million worth of liquidations on positions that bet whether an asset's price will rise or fall over time.

Long positions make up the majority of that tally, per data from CoinGlass, with $99 million worth of liquidations across the market—and a large chunk of that came during the big price dip after Biden's announcement. Bitcoin leads total liquidations with $46 million over that span, with Ethereum next up at $31 million.