Nearly $1B in Crypto Positions Liquidated in 24 Hours, Longs Dominate Losses

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Value investing in crypto faces a rough patch as nearly $1B in positions were liquidated in 24 hours. Longs bore 79% of the losses, with Bitcoin and Ethereum leading the sell-off at $600M in liquidations. Ethereum longs lost $246.4M, 86% of its total. Zcash saw $76.3M in losses due to a network upgrade. A long-term crypto strategy remains key amid sharp market swings.

The crypto market saw nearly $1b in liquidations over the past 24 hours as heavily bullish positioning unraveled across major assets, according to liquidation data from CryptoMeter.

Roughly $979.7m worth of leveraged positions were wiped out during the period, with long traders accounting for the overwhelming majority of losses.

The data showed approximately $769.7m in long liquidations compared to around $210.1m in shorts. This means that nearly 79% of all liquidated positions were due to bullish bets.

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Bitcoin and Ethereum absorbed most of the damage as the broader market pulled back.

Long traders dominated the wipeout

The liquidation imbalance suggests traders entered the session with aggressively bullish positioning, only for momentum to reverse sharply.

Bitcoin saw roughly $299.4m in total liquidations over the 24-hour period, while Ethereum followed closely with around $287.7m.

Together, the two largest cryptocurrencies accounted for nearly $600m in liquidated positions. This signals that the sell-off extended beyond isolated altcoin volatility and reflected broader market deleveraging.

Crypto long and short 24-hr liquidation chart
Source: Cryptometer

Ethereum positioning appeared especially crowded on the long side.

CryptoMeter data showed ETH traders lost around $246.4m in long liquidations compared to just $41.3m in shorts.

That means roughly 86% of Ethereum liquidations came from bullish positions, suggesting many traders were positioned for continued upside before the market reversed.

Zcash volatility also stood out

One of the more unusual moves came from Zcash, which recorded approximately $76.3m in liquidations despite its relatively smaller market size.

The spike came as the Zcash ecosystem coordinated an emergency Orchard network upgrade after developers identified an issue affecting Orchard shielded transactions earlier this week.

While the Zcash Foundation said user funds and privacy remained unaffected, the protocol-level update temporarily suspended Orchard activity, triggering heightened volatility in the asset.

Market positioning remains fragile

The latest liquidation wave highlights how sensitive the market remains to shifts in momentum. This is after weeks of increasingly crowded long positioning across major cryptocurrencies.

Liquidation events of this scale often amplify volatility. This is because forced position closures accelerate downside price movement, particularly when leverage concentration is one-sided.

The data also suggests traders continue using leverage aggressively despite ongoing macro uncertainties.


Final Summary

  • Nearly $1b in crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours, with long traders accounting for almost 80% of losses.
  • Bitcoin and Ethereum led the sell-off, while Ethereum showed especially crowded bullish positioning before the reversal.

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