The recent announcement from the US Federal Reserve regarding interest rates triggered heightened volatility in the Bitcoin market, resulting in approximately $48 million in liquidations within a single day.

As of the latest update on Friday, Bitcoin (BTC) was once again trading just below the $43,000 mark, having briefly surpassed this level during the tumultuous trading sessions on both Wednesday and Thursday.

Notably, Bitcoin had attained its yearly high of $44,700 on December 8. Currently, the leading cryptocurrency is trading about 4.7% below this peak. Over the past week, BTC has experienced a 3% decline, although it maintains a positive trajectory with a gain of over 17% on a 30-day basis.

Despite the apparent absorption of the Federal Reserve's decision to maintain interest rates, the initial market reaction resulted in significant liquidations of leveraged derivatives positions on both the long and short sides.

According to Coinglass data, on the day of the Fed's announcement, around $35.4 million worth of Bitcoin shorts were liquidated as prices initially surged higher on a more dovish stance from the Fed. However, even bullish long positions were not exempt, with $12.56 million worth of longs being wiped out when BTC experienced a sudden drop shortly after.

In total, approximately $48 million in leveraged positions were liquidated on the day of the Federal Reserve's announcement.

It's worth noting that these Fed-related liquidations followed the largest long liquidation event in three months, occurring on Monday, December 11. During that event, $126.74 million in long positions were liquidated within 24 hours, coinciding with a sudden crash in the spot price of Bitcoin—from $43,800 to just over $40,000 in a matter of hours.

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