Share this article
Crypto slides on Hormuz airstrikes as $897 million in long liquidations pile up
BTC dropped to its lowest since April 13 and ETH broke below $2,000 as U.S. airstrikes stoked inflation concerns, wiping out nearly $900 million in leveraged longs.
May 28, 2026, 10:44 a.m. 3 min read
What to know:
- Nearly $958 million of crypto positions were liquidated in 24 hours, with longs accounting for $897 million of the total as investors shifted to risk-off sentiment following airstrikes in the Strait of Hormuz.
- Ether open interest hit a record even as the token fell below $2,000, a divergence that typically signals traders are adding shorts in anticipation of further losses rather than buying the dip.
- Around $8 billion in options expire on Deribit on Friday, with bitcoin’s max pain at $75,000 just above spot price. Despite headline volatility near yearly lows, the put-call skew remains elevated, meaning traders are still paying for downside protection.
The immediate catalyst was a spike in oil prices. Crude jumped to $96 a barrel from $92 before settling at $94 during the European morning, a move that stoked fresh inflation concerns across markets.
U.S. equity index futures are also feeling the pressure, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 derivatives down 0.11% and 0.25%, respectively, reinforcing the broadly risk-off tone heading into the American session.
Derivatives positioning
- Liquidations totaled $958.8 million over the past 24 hours, with longs accounting for $897 million versus just $61 million in shorts. The lopsided wipeout tracks a market grinding lower rather than a sharp two-way flush.
- Bitcoin open interest barely moved, but the flat overall reading masks a 9.85% drop in CME open interest to $7.56 billion. Regulated futures are coming off while offshore perps hold steady and, with funding neutral at 0.0058%, nobody is chasing the move with leverage.
- Ether open interest climbed to a record 16.39 million ETH ($32.61 billion), up 0.61% over 24 hours, even as the token slipped below $2,000. Open interest rising while the price falls points to traders adding shorts in anticipation of deeper losses rather than buying the dip.
- Open interest for XRP fell 0.49% to 2.28 billion XRP ($2.94 billion) as the token’s price softened. The simultaneous decline reads as bullish bets closing out rather than new shorts opening. Perpetual funding on XRP and SOL also turned negative across nearly every venue, with shorts paying longs on Binance at -0.0123% and -0.0161%, and Gate the lone positive outlier, a sign traders are leaning short the majors.
- About $8 billion in options expires on Deribit on Friday, $6.5 billion in bitcoin (roughly 86,000 contracts) and $1.4 billion in ether. Max pain for bitcoin sits at $75,000, just above spot price, with $375 million in put notional clustered at that strike and $640 million in open interest stacked at the $80,000 resistance line that marks the 200-day moving average.
- Deribit’s DVOL volatility index sits near 36, the eighth percentile of the past year, while ether volatility is at its first percentile and the lowest since early 2024. Still, the 25-delta put-call skew is elevated at +12.3% on the one-week and +10.3% on the one-month for bitcoin, so traders are paying up for immediate downside protection even with headline volatility crushed.
