More than $774 million in crypto positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours, and almost all of the pain landed on traders betting on higher prices. Longs accounted for $688.56 million of the total, roughly 88.9%, while shorts made up just $85.58 million. Some 172,662 traders were liquidated, according to market data.
The selloff cut the total crypto market cap by 4.40% to $2.77 trillion. Bitcoin dropped 2.67% to $81,594, Ethereum fell 4.46% to $2,429.16, and Solana shed 7.11% to trade at $103.62. Zcash was among the hardest hit, sliding 9.54%.
Where the liquidations hit hardest
Ethereum led the damage with $169.23 million in liquidations, 86.3% of which were longs. Bitcoin followed at $160.48 million, with longs making up 90.2% of that figure. Solana liquidations reached $60.41 million, and 94.2% of those were long positions — a ratio that suggests traders were leaning heavily bullish right into the drop.
Binance absorbed the bulk of the fallout, handling 51.9% of all liquidations. The single largest forced order was a $9.65 million BTCUSDT long on Binance, liquidated at $81,772.75.
The conflict driving the selloff
The decline tracks escalating conflict in the Middle East. Houthi attacks on Saudi airports killed at least 20 people over the past week, including a US national, according to CBS. President Donald Trump said the US may join Saudi Arabia's offensive against the Houthis in Yemen.
Inflation jitters are piling on top of the geopolitical risk. Treasury yields are sitting near 24-year highs, and South Korea's KOSPI fell nearly 5% on Tuesday, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both sliding. Tom Lee, chairman of Ethereum treasury firm BitMine, tied the Korean equity slump directly to the crypto losses, pointing to margin liquidations in brokerage accounts and the fact that Koreans are major crypto holders.
One trader's very good Tuesday
Not everyone took a hit. Trader AguilaTrades, who has total losses of $38 million, opened a 40x short on 124.24 BTC worth $10.14 million. The position is up $165,000 in unrealized profit, with a liquidation price of $83,432.22. That's a thin margin for a 40x short, and it sits uncomfortably close to the current BTC price.
The timing on the macro side isn't helping either. The US releases its September Consumer Price Index report on Wednesday, and economists expect annual inflation to rise to 3.7% from 3.4%. If that print comes in hot, the case for holding risk through this conflict gets harder to make. The next 48 hours will tell traders whether the worst of the liquidations is behind them or whether $81K is just a waypoint.
