Since August, the native cryptocurrency of the Hedera ecosystem, HBAR, has been trading in a consolidation zone. It just made its third attempt to leave the zone, but it was a bull trap with lengthy, heavy liquidations.
Like the majority of cryptocurrencies, HBAR has been rising since November 5. The bullish market sentiment that has dominated the market thus far this month is responsible for this. But this latest effort first broke through short-term resistance at $0.063.
On November 12, HBAR rose as high as $0.077 in what seemed to be a bull trap. This is due to the price rapidly declining by over 20%. After the price fell into overbought territory, there was a pullback.
There are all the signs of a bull trap in the cryptocurrency's failed bullish attempt. This calls for a review of the effects of the pullback.
HBAR’s decline wipes out long positions
Leveraged long positions may have increased as a result of HBAR's recent gains. This is particularly true in light of the fact that Bitcoin and many other major coins have been rising to all-time highs. The bull trap scenario was validated by examining liquidation data.
Coinglass reports that on November 12, HBAR's total liquidations reached a peak of $886,150. The peak price of short positions that day was $539,450. In the previous six months, these were the highest single-day liquidation figures recorded.
Source: Coinglass
On November 13, long liquidations reached a peak of $620,750, while short liquidations reached a peak of $54,110. Liquidations may have contributed to the strong sell pressure, as evidenced by the spike in liquidations on the day the price retreated.
Additionally, the liquidations matched the recently noted increase in open interest. Over the past ten days, there has been an increase in open interest in HBAR futures.
On November 13, it reached its peak at $61.11. The majority of the open interest that day might have been in the bears' favor.
It rose to a new 6-month high following the most recent spike in open interest. The levels seen during the peak of HBAR demand in April were far higher than this spike. It does, however, indicate that interest in the cryptocurrency is progressively growing again.
Delay in HBAR Does Not Mean Denial
The rally may have been postponed by HBAR's recent bull trap and lengthy liquidations. That being said, this does not imply that it will not occur.
Although the liquidations highlight a shakedown in leverage, HBAR was still substantially undervalued, particularly in contrast to its present 2024 peak. Due to the crypto's potential for growth, many people may still own it.
At the time of writing, HBAR was already attempting a bullish breakout from its consolidation zone. This indicated that there was still demand. The 27th largest crypto to date is currently trading at $0.1191 with a market capitalization of around $4,52 billion and preparing to test its monthly high of $0.126
As was seen earlier in the week, the removal of leveraged positions could pave the way for a second rally attempt with a lower chance of a long squeeze scenario.