As USDC drops to 90 cents, traders anticipate a rebound in the value of USD Coin

The USD Coin (USDC) fell below 90 cents on Saturday and hit a lifetime low of 87 cents due to little respite for the token's recovery, causing traders to move to other stablecoins to protect their capital. Some traders still bet on a gradual recovery towards the $1 mark, buying the relatively cheap USDC for a potential 10% gain if the token repegs to the intended dollar mark. Leverage could magnify returns for these traders, leading to futures funding rates on the crypto exchange Bybit jumping to as much as 0.3% on Saturday morning. However, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) caused a market-wide drop for cryptocurrencies, as it was revealed that some of the industry's major players had exposure to the bank. This included US-based stablecoin issuer Circle, which held a part of its USDC stablecoin's cash reserves at Silicon Valley Bank as of Jan. 17. As a result, some $4 million in USDC futures were liquidated in the past 24 hours, according to Coinglass data.