TLDR
Ethereum (ETH) was the single biggest casualty in a roughly $1.1 billion crypto liquidation wave, with leveraged long traders taking most of the hit.
- Total crypto liquidations over about 24 hours reached roughly $1.1$1.2 billion, with ETH accounting for around $320$360 million and Bitcoin (BTC) about $270$300 million.
- Most of the wiped-out positions were longs, and ETH longs were significantly more stretched than BTC, leading to a much higher liquidation rate relative to its market size.
- The flush was triggered by a macro risk shock and crowded leverage, and derivatives data shows substantial open interest still outstanding, so another wave is possible if key levels or macro narratives worsen.
Deep Dive
1. What Happened In The Flush
Multiple derivatives trackers cited by a TokenPost report and CryptoSlate coverage show roughly $1.1$1.19 billion in crypto liquidations over 24 hours.
ETH liquidations were in the $318$356 million range, while BTC was around $286$298 million, affecting roughly 180,000190,000 traders. These figures are not cash outflows, but the notional size of positions forcibly closed when margin was exhausted.
BTC briefly dropped below about $81,000 and ETH fell toward the low $2,400s before both partially rebounded, with the overall crypto market losing around 3 percent on the day.
2. Why ETH Led The Losses
CoinDesk noted that about $356 million in ETH positions were liquidated, versus $298 million for BTC, even though ETHs market value is less than one fifth of Bitcoins.
That implies ETH traders were running significantly higher leverage and more aggressive long positioning, so a 46 percent price drop was enough to trigger a disproportionate number of liquidations. ETH also typically trades with higher beta than BTC, meaning moves tend to be larger in both directions when the market is stressed.
periods of crowded ETH leverage can turn a modest price move into a rapid liquidation cascade, so monitoring ETH funding, open interest and support levels is key around macro events.
3. Macro And Leverage Drivers, What To Watch
Reports link the selloff to a mix of hawkish Federal Reserve minutes, higher oil prices and geopolitical tensions, plus wider worries about AI-related security risks, all of which pressured risk assets and triggered de-risking across crypto.
CoinsKid derivatives data shows total perpetual open interest around "419.44 B" USD with a 24 hour increase and total derivatives volume near "290.24 T" USD, meaning that even after this flush, leverage in the system remains high. Longs made up roughly 8595 percent of the liquidations according to several trackers, so the move was primarily an unwind of bullish bets rather than a short squeeze.
if macro volatility persists and BTC or ETH lose current support zones, there is still enough leverage for another liquidations spike, so watching open interest, funding rates and key price levels is more important than headline liquidation totals alone.
Conclusion
ETH leading this $1.1 billion liquidation wave signals that leverage had become more concentrated and aggressive in Ethereum than in Bitcoin, leaving ETH longs particularly vulnerable to a mid-size shock.
The driver was not a single crypto-specific event but a broad macro and sentiment reset hitting a heavily leveraged derivatives market. If risk conditions worsen or major levels break again, similar cascades could recur, especially in high-beta assets like ETH and other large altcoins.
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