- Heavy selling operations of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple amid a general risk-avoidance trend in the market.

Bitcoin's price began to decline on Thursday, with a widespread risk aversion in global markets after the Federal Reserve halted its monetary easing cycle and kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell took a hawkish stance during the press conference following the meeting. The absence of any signals of future rate cuts led to decreased demand for high-risk assets such as Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies.

Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, speculation about the nomination of the Federal Reserve Chair, and outflows from (ETFs) are among the factors that exacerbated Bitcoin's sell-off to $81,118, recording its lowest level of the day.

These challenges led to massive liquidations of long positions, with traders using leverage losing over $405 million on Friday and about $433 million on Thursday. As investor risk appetite continues to wane, Bitcoin faces the risk of extending its price correction below the psychological support level of $80,000.

"The decline is worsening due to the liquidation of leveraged positions, where over-leveraged long positions are being wiped out, adding automatic selling pressure to an already fragile data set," said Chris Newhouse, Business Development Head at Argonia, to Bloomberg.

Bitcoin Liquidation Data | Source: CoinGlass

Meanwhile, Ethereum faces heavy selling pressure as its price continues to fall below the $3,000 level, stabilizing above $2,700 at the time of writing this report on Friday. CoinGlass data indicates long buy position liquidations worth approximately $244 million on Friday and $175 million on Thursday.

Ethereum Liquidation Data | Source: CoinGlass

XRP continues to face pressure, trading above its lowest level since April 9 at $1.72, affected by liquidation of buy positions worth around $57 million. If bullish traders fail to defend the support level at $1.72, XRP's decline could extend below its April 7 low of $1.61, potentially leading to further leverage trading liquidations.