Geopolitical Shock Triggers Historic $10 Billion Crypto Market Liquidation

The cryptocurrency market experienced a historic deleveraging event, with nearly $10 billion in positions liquidated within 24 hours. This massive sell-off was triggered by a sharp market correction following the announcement of retaliatory 100% tariffs on China by the Trump administration.

According to data from CoinGlass, the downturn liquidated over 1.5 million traders and erased $9.55 billion in open interest. The losses were heavily skewed, with long positions accounting for a staggering $8 billion of the total, compared to $1.55 billion in short positions.

Bitcoin and Ethereum, the market’s two largest assets, bore the brunt of the liquidations, seeing $1.37 billion and $1.26 billion wiped out, respectively. The single largest liquidation order was an $87.53 million BTC/USDT trade on the HTX exchange.

While comprehensive historical data is limited, preliminary analysis suggests this could be the largest liquidation event in dollar terms in crypto history. For context, the previous major Bitcoin long liquidation occurred on September 24, totaling approximately $285 million.

The liquidations accompanied a dramatic price plunge, dragging the total crypto market capitalization down over 9% to $3.8 trillion. Bitcoin itself plummeted from a high above $122,000 to briefly trade under $102,000, effectively erasing all price gains achieved since August.