Crypto markets see $1.58B in liquidations across 24 hours, with BTC and ETH leading losses as leveraged longs get wiped out.
DeFi & Yields ·
Crypto markets saw $1.58B in liquidations over a 24-hour period, with 242,644 traders wiped out according to CoinGlass data. Long positions accounted for 84% of those liquidations, indicating a sharp reversal that caught leveraged buyers off guard. Bitcoin led the losses at $526.69M, followed by Ethereum at $361.13M, while a single $11.09M Bitcoin long order on Binance represented the largest individual liquidation during the window.
Liquidations in crypto occur when leveraged positions fall below maintenance margin requirements, triggering automatic position closures to protect exchange solvency and lenders. The scale of this event—affecting nearly a quarter million traders in one day—points to either a significant price move or concentrated leverage across major pairs. The dominance of long liquidations suggests traders holding bullish positions across the two largest cryptocurrencies faced sudden adverse price action.
What remains unclear is whether the liquidations cascaded as a result of a single sharp price decline or unfolded across multiple volatility spikes. The distribution of losses between Bitcoin and Ethereum, along with the concentration in one outsized order, leaves open questions about whether whale positions or broader retail leverage drove the event.