A strong bull market tends to attract speculators and newbie traders who hop on to the rally with an aim to get rich quickly. In their eagerness to earn huge profits, traders throw caution out of the window and take on excessive leverage. While this strategy is fruitful during the asset’s up-move, sharp corrections wipe out most accounts due to the use of massive leverage.
Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent market drop below $30,000 caused the Bitcoin futures open interest to plummet from $27 billion to $11 billion. This suggests that several leveraged traders would have taken a huge hit. Although painful, these corrections reduce greed and the asset transfers from weak hands to strong hands who venture out to buy when the sentiment is negative.