BTC’s Wild Ride: $63K to $96K on Upbit After Martial Law Repeal

• Bitcoin crashes 30% on Upbit amid martial law, shaking South Korea’s crypto market.
• Exchange outages and liquidation surges expose market volatility after BTC’s steep drop.
• Derivatives trading spikes globally as options activity signals cautious trader optimism.

Bitcoin’s value plunged to $63,000—a 30% drop—on South Korea’s Upbit exchange following the nation’s shocking martial law declaration. This move triggered widespread panic among investors, causing significant sell-offs and technical issues on major South Korean exchanges. However, after lawmakers repealed martial law, Bitcoin rebounded to approximately $96,178 on Upbit, narrowing the earlier price disparity with global markets.

Exchange Outages and Market Chaos

Upbit and Bithumb faced operational challenges during the turmoil. Upbit users reported delays accessing its app and Open API services, while Bithumb experienced temporary outages across its desktop and mobile platforms. These disruptions heightened market anxiety as investors raced to liquidate positions or hedge against further losses.

Read also: Bitcoin Rallies 37% in November: Will December Bring $115K High?

Globally, Bitcoin prices remained steadier, trading around $95,972.17, reflecting a modest 0.90% decline over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin derivatives market experienced a 16.88% volume surge, reaching $84.38 billion. However, open interest fell by 2.66% to $58.51 billion, indicating reduced risk appetite or profit-taking.

Derivatives and Options Market Trends

As per Coinglass data, Bitcoin derivatives activity sent mixed signals. While trading volumes surged, open interest declined, hinting at waning confidence among traders. Conversely, options trading showed cautious optimism, with a 13.39% rise in volume and a 1.25% increase in open interest. These contrasting trends reflect uncertainty in Bitcoin’s immediate trajectory.

On Binance, traders leaned bullish, with account and position long/short ratios of 1.1858 and 1.5772, respectively. Similarly, OKX data revealed bullish sentiment, with ratios of 1.05 for accounts and 1.0799 for positions. However, the global long/short ratio stood at 0.9478, indicating a slight bearish skew.

Liquidations Highlight Volatility

The volatile environment led to significant liquidations across exchanges. Over the past 24 hours, $92.45 million in positions were liquidated, with $57.72 million from long positions and $34.73 million from shorts. Short-term liquidations amounted to $10.80 million, split between $3.21 million from longs and $7.59 million from shorts. These figures underscore the market’s instability, fueled by South Korea’s political developments.