Bitcoin, Ether, Solana longs wiped out in $1.84B liquidation cascade
In brief
- $1.84 billion in leveraged long positions liquidated in 24 hours, largest wipeout since February 5
- Bitcoin longs absorbed $883.66 million; Ether longs another $475.73 million
- Largest single trade: $59.67 million BTC-USDT long unwound on HTX exchange
- Retail traders remain long while whale accounts on OKX flip bearish, signaling no clearing level
The Unwind
Roughly $1.84 billion in crypto leveraged positions were liquidated across the past 24 hours. The cascade was almost purely one-sided: long positions accounted for $1.66 billion of the total liquidations, while shorts accounted for $180 million. Long positions bet that the price will rise, while short positions are bets on prices falling.
Bitcoin longs absorbed the heaviest damage. Bitcoin longs absorbed $883.66 million in liquidations, followed by Ether longs another $475.73 million and Solana longs $91.18 million.
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, while Hyperliquid handled $314 million, of which 94% were longs and Bybit logged $247 million with 93% longs.
No Clearing Level Yet
What's troubling is what happened after the flush. Bitcoin open interest rose from roughly 759,000 BTC to 788,600 BTC even as the long book was being wiped out. That suggests new shorts are opening rather than longs simply exiting — a sign the market hasn't stabilized.
Retail traders aren't convinced yet. Retail bitcoin traders on Binance, OKX and Bybit are still leaning long at ratios of 2.22, 2.01 and 1.58 respectively. But the smart money is shifting. Whale accounts on OKX have flipped to a 0.54 long-short ratio that CoinGlass flags as 'extremely bearish.'
Sell pressure dominated. Aggregate taker volume across the period showed $65.39 billion in sells against $60.16 billion in buys, indicating more aggressive selling than buying. XRP lost another major support level on heavy selling, with traders now focused on whether buyers can defend the $1.20 area.
