Why Margin Calls And Bot Liquidations Are Roiling Crypto

Its a vicious circle long familiar to those in traditional finance: trades made with borrowed money fall when the collateral value of the loans drop.

It's a vicious circle long familiar to those in traditional finance: trades made with borrowed money coming apart when the value of their collateral put up against the loans drops, forcing liquidations that in turn push prices down further.

That pattern, driven by so-called margin calls, has come to cryptocurrency markets in a big way since prices began to slump broadly -- with some additional crypto-only twists.