Bitcoin Market Is Deleveraging—Here’s What’s Going On

Bitcoin’s fall to $61,000 over the past week has flushed out its fair share of leverage.

Look no further than Bitcoin’s futures market, where the total value of futures contracts traded on major exchanges has plummeted by $5.2 billion during that span, according to Coinglass. As of this writing, open interest for Bitcoin futures contracts stood at $28.3 billion on Wednesday.

“This absolutely is a deleveraging event,” Amberdata’s Director of Derivatives Greg Magadini told Decrypt in an interview, adding that growing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and stronger-than-expected economic data in the U.S. have recently thrown crypto off-kilter.

After setting a new all-time high of $73,000 last month, Bitcoin has since fallen 16% to its lowest…