The crypto market unraveled sharply over the past 24 hours, sparking $1.68 billion in liquidations as leveraged bets were wiped out across major exchanges, according to CoinGlass data.
Some 267,370 traders were forced out of positions, with longs accounting for an overwhelming $1.56 billion, or nearly 93% of total liquidations.
Shorts totaled just $118 million, indicating how one-sided positioning had become prior to the move lower.
Bitcoin and ether led the damage. BTC alone saw around $780 million in liquidations, while ETH followed with more than $414 million, per liquidation heatmap data. The biggest single hit was an $80.57 million BTC-USDT position on HTX, a reminder that even deep liquidity does not protect outsized leverage when momentum turns.
The pain was concentrated at eternally heavy venues. Hyperliquid topped the list with $598 million in liquidations, over 94% of them long, reflecting how aggressively traders had leaned into upside bets. Bybit followed with $339 million and Binance logged $181 million, with long exposure dominant across all three.
Liquidations occur when leveraged traders can no longer meet margin requirements and exchange forced closed positions to prevent further losses.
In fast markets, this becomes reflexive: foreclosures push prices lower, which triggers more liquidations, which feeds a cascade. That feedback loop is exactly what played out here.
For traders, liquidation data is important because it reveals where leverage was excessive and where risk has been washed out.
Heavy long liquidations often mark the clearing of speculative profits, resetting funding rates and open interest. This does not mean that a bottom is in – but it does mean that weak hands are gone and price action going forward is less distorted by forced flows.
The broader takeaway is that the move was likely not driven by fresh bearish conviction, but leverage breaks. When almost everything on the board is long, the market doesn’t need bad news – it just needs gravity.
