Nearly $3 billion wiped out in one of the largest liquidation events on record
DeFi & Yields ·
A rapid squeeze in BTC and ETH prices erased leveraged positions worth $2.98 billion across 174,350 accounts in a single day.
Data shared on X shows the wipeout ranks as the eighth-biggest liquidation episode ever tracked, based on figures pulled from CoinGlass. Most of the forced closures hit short sellers who had bet against the market just before prices reversed upward, exposing how crowded bearish positioning had become heading into the move.
The scale places the event behind several historic flashpoints, including a $19.16 billion liquidation tied to tariff escalation between the U.S. and China, a $9.94 billion event linked to anti-money-laundering crackdown rumors and mining shutdowns, and a $9.01 billion episode triggered by a shift in Tesla's stance alongside tighter regulation. It also edges past a $2.92 billion event tied to proposed capital-gains tax increases, underscoring how the latest squeeze, despite its size, still trails several macro-driven shocks from earlier crypto cycles.
The stated catalysts this time were U.S. Treasury buyback activity combined with more favorable signals from the SEC on crypto regulation, a notably different driver than the geopolitical and policy shocks behind past top-ten events. The single largest forced trade came on Hyperliquid, where a $48.80 million BTC-USD order was closed out, illustrating how concentrated risk had built up on certain derivatives venues.
A separate tally from the same data source, covering a slightly different 24-hour window, put the toll even higher at $3.17 billion across 179,368 traders, pointing to how quickly the figures shift as new liquidations register. Both readings agree on the broad picture: an overwhelmingly short-heavy market got flushed as BTC and ETH pushed higher.
What remains unclear is how funding rates and open interest will resettle now that leverage has been stripped out so abruptly, and whether the reset reduces near-term volatility or simply clears the way for a fresh buildup of positioning. Traders will be watching subsequent CoinGlass updates to see if the liquidation total climbs further or stabilizes near current levels.