Bullish crypto bets lose $1.6 billion as ETH, SOL, DOGE drop 9%
The single biggest unwind was a $59.67 million BTC-USDT long on HTX.
What to know:
- Nearly $1.84 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated in 24 hours as bitcoin fell below $66,000 and ether dropped under $1,900, marking the largest wipeout since Feb. 5.
- Long positions bore the brunt of the damage, with about $1.66 billion in liquidations led by bitcoin, ether and solana longs, and a single $59.67 million BTC-USDT long closed on HTX.
- Binance, Hyperliquid and Bybit together handled the bulk of the liquidations as bitcoin slid from above $71,000 to around $65,700, and traders now see a break below $65,000 as potentially opening a path toward $60,000.
A liquidation is when an exchange automatically closes a leveraged trade because the trader’s losses have exceeded the collateral they posted to open it. Long positions bet that the price will rise, while short positions are bets on prices falling.
Bitcoin longs absorbed $883.66 million of the damage, ether longs another $475.73 million and solana (SOL) longs $91.18 million, with the remaining roughly $390 million spread across HYPE, DOGE, SUI, BNB, NEAR, AAVE, LINK and the broader top-30 long book.
The single largest order was a $59.67 million BTC-USDT long unwinding on HTX.
Binance accounted for $748 million of the total liquidations, or roughly 41% of the cascade, with 89% of those positions long. Hyperliquid handled $314 million, of which 94% were longs, and Bybit logged $247 million with 93% longs.
