Crypto prices were largely flat over the past 24 hours, but leveraged positions were not. According to CoinGlass, more than 87,000 traders were liquidated across the market for a total of $286 million, even though Bitcoin held near $63,900 and Ether edged down to around $1,900.
Long liquidations reached $186 million, while short liquidations came in at $100 million. The figures point to a market that swung hard enough in both directions to force out traders on either side before prices returned close to where they began.
Bitcoin liquidations were almost evenly split
Bitcoin offered one of the clearest examples of the move. Out of roughly $57 million in BTC liquidations, about $28 million came from longs and about $29 million from shorts.
During that stretch, Bitcoin traded between $63,247 and $64,660, a move of less than 2%. Even so, that range was enough to knock out high-leverage traders betting in either direction.
Ether led major tokens in total liquidations
Ether was the biggest casualty among the major cryptocurrencies, with total liquidations reaching $58 million. Most of the losses were concentrated in long positions. Over the same period, ETH traded between $1,920 and $1,850.
Liquidation pressure clustered around the Fed decision
The Federal Reserve’s rate decision on Wednesday fell within the same volatile window. Liquidations were heavily concentrated in the 12 hours before and after the announcement, when the market saw $188 million in liquidations. Of that amount, $130 million came from long positions.
Tech-stock perpetuals also saw heavy damage
One of the more unusual pockets of losses came from traditional technology names listed on crypto derivatives platforms. Positions tied to SanDisk saw about $19 million in liquidations, while Micron saw $10 million. SK Hynix and the triple-leveraged semiconductor ETF SOXL each recorded $7 million.
These are perpetual contracts listed on crypto exchanges that are designed to track the price action of stocks and funds, while allowing traders to use the same kind of high leverage available in crypto trading.
Bullish semiconductor bets were hit the hardest
Most of the liquidations in those tech-related contracts were on the long side. In Micron’s case, the long-to-short liquidation ratio reached 7:1, with $9 million in long liquidations versus $1 million in shorts. SanDisk’s ratio was 2:1.
The report said many traders had used the convenience of crypto platforms to place leveraged bets on the AI memory theme, only to run into what it described as this year’s sharpest semiconductor sell-off.
SK Hynix rose in profit, but the stock still fell
The timing of those bets proved unfavorable. SK Hynix reported a 557% jump in profit on Wednesday, but the result still fell short of optimistic market expectations, sending the stock down 17% in a single day. At the same time, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or KOSPI, has fallen more than 40% from its June high.