BTC and ETH plunge trigger $700M liquidations

TLDR

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) dropped toward recent lows, triggering hundreds of millions of dollars in leveraged crypto liquidations and signaling a broader risk-off shift across crypto and macro markets.

1. BTC fell toward 63,000 dollars and ETH below 1,900 dollars, with several sources reporting roughly 600 to 700 million dollars of liquidations, mostly on long positions.
2. The selloff is tied to macro stress, including a South Korea stock crash, a stronger dollar, and uncertainty around the Federal Reserves rate decision and the US CLARITY Act.
3. Derivatives open interest, funding, and the upcoming Fed announcement will show whether this is a brief deleveraging or the start of a deeper risk-off phase for crypto.

Deep Dive

1. Scale Of The Move

Coverage from CryptoPotato notes that BTC dropped to about 63,000 dollars, its lowest level in ten days, with roughly 700 million in liquidations across BTC, ETH, XRP and other majors.

Other outlets, including Yahoo Finance and TradingView, cite over 630 million in leveraged crypto positions liquidated, with more than 500 million dollars coming from longs, showing bulls were heavily caught on the wrong side. Tokenpost data highlights about 78.73 million dollars liquidated in BTC and 142.40 million dollars in ETH alone over 24 hours.

At the market level, aggregate data shows total crypto market cap around 2.2 trillion dollars, down roughly 1 to 2 percent over the past day, consistent with a sharp but not catastrophic move.

2. Macro And Policy Drivers

Several reports link the plunge to a broader risk-off shock. South Koreas KOSPI index dropped more than 8 percent, triggering a circuit breaker, which coincided with BTCs slide below 64,000 dollars and wave of liquidations.

At the same time, traders are bracing for the Federal Reserves meeting, where Chair Kevin Warsh is expected to announce the next rate decision, and where a surprise hike remains a nontrivial risk. TradeFi coverage also notes fading odds that the US Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act passes quickly, which weighs on sentiment about future regulatory clarity for crypto.

A stronger US dollar and mixed performance in tech and AI-linked equities have reinforced the risk-off tone, pulling capital away from higher beta assets such as BTC, ETH and altcoins.

3. What To Watch Next

Derivatives metrics point to partial deleveraging. Futures open interest is down sharply, while perpetuals open interest is more stable, suggesting some leverage has been cut but not fully washed out. Longs have taken most of the losses in this flush.

Sentiment is fragile. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index currently sits in the Fear zone around the mid 30s, and recent liquidations cluster near key levels around 63,000 to 65,000 dollars for BTC, where options and leverage are concentrated.

Conclusion

BTC and ETHs plunge, together with roughly 600 to 700 million dollars in liquidations, reflects a crowded long side running into macro and policy uncertainty rather than a single crypto specific shock.

The next few sessions around the Fed decision and US crypto legislation will be critical for seeing whether this deleveraging phase stabilizes or deepens into a larger risk-off regime for digital assets.