Bitcoin fell below $106,000 in early European hours on Friday as leveraged traders again faced heavy losses, with nearly $1.2 billion in crypto positions wiped out over the past 24 hours.
Data shows that most of the damage came from long positions, reflecting how aggressively traders had positioned themselves for a bounce earlier in the week.
According to CoinGlass, nearly 79% of the total liquidations were long trades, affecting more than 307,000 accounts. The single biggest hit was a $20.4 million ETH-USD long on Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives exchange that has quietly become one of the main engines of leveraged crypto trading.
Bitcoin accounted for about $344 million in losses, followed by Ether with $201 million, and Solana to 97 million dollars. XRP, and other high-beta tokens each saw tens of millions more removed from open interest.
Across exchanges, Hyperliquid saw the most activity at $391 million, followed by Bybit at $300 million, Binance at $259 million and OKX at $99 million. This mix shows how on-chain venues are now sitting side by side with traditional trading platforms during major market resets.
Liquidations occur when traders using borrowed money to reinforce positions can no longer meet margin requirements. Simply put, if the market moves too far towards a leveraged bet, the position is forced closed to prevent further losses.
These events can turn into overlapping selloffs when large clusters of stop orders are triggered at once, creating what traders call a “liquidation loop.”
Such loops are often tracked through liquidation heatmaps and open interest data, which can show how large concentrations of leverage are in the market. As price approaches these zones, traders keep a close eye on potential squeeze or liquidation events that could define the next directional move.
Bitcoin’s decline began late Thursday when prices slipped through the $107,000 level, setting off a chain of forced shutdowns that rippled through derivatives markets.
The move comes against a tense macro backdrop. Renewed friction between the US and China has weakened risk appetite, while a stronger yen and weaker gold prices have increased uncertainty. Bitcoin has now given back most of its early week gains, while ether is trading just below $3,900, down about 4% on the day.
