Crypto markets were hit by another broad deleveraging event as Bitcoin fell below $81,000, sending total liquidations over 24 hours to as much as $1.16 billion. About $1.05 billion came from long positions betting on higher prices, and the forced unwinding added to the market's downside move.
Ether took the heaviest damage among major crypto assets. CoinGlass data showed about $356 million in ETH positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, nearly 18% more than Bitcoin's roughly $300 million. The largest single liquidation in this round also came from an ETH-USD contract on Hyperliquid, with a size close to $20 million.
ETH fell harder than BTC and briefly lost $2,500
As of midday Taipei time on Oct. 9, ETH was trading around $2,492, down about 3% from the previous close, after touching an intraday low of $2,409. BTC changed hands near $82,377 and fell as low as $80,432 during the session. SOL dropped more than 4%, indicating the selling was not limited to ETH alone but extended across volatile crypto assets.
Derivatives concentration magnified ETH liquidations
Ether's heavier liquidation load was tied to a higher concentration of derivatives activity. CoinGlass data showed ETH futures volume reached about $63.48 billion over the past 24 hours, while spot volume was only about $4.12 billion, putting futures at roughly 15.4 times spot turnover. ETH open interest still stood at $32.28 billion.
For Bitcoin, futures volume was about 11.4 times spot volume. That points to ETH price swings being amplified more easily through leveraged markets. Still, futures trading running above spot does not mean every trader is using extreme leverage. It indicates that price discovery and short-term trading are more concentrated in derivatives. Once ETH falls through maintenance margin levels, multiple forced liquidations can cascade.
ETF outflows left weaker spot support
U.S. spot crypto ETFs did not provide enough support for the market. Farside data showed spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows of $484.9 million on Oct. 7 and $244.1 million on Oct. 8, for a combined two-day withdrawal of about $729 million.
Spot Ether ETFs looked even weaker. From Oct. 1 to Oct. 8, they posted net outflows for six consecutive trading days, with cumulative withdrawals of about $578.9 million. That included $201.9 million in outflows on Oct. 6 and another $160.9 million on Oct. 7. With spot ETF demand weakening while futures longs remained highly leveraged, the market lacked enough non-leveraged buying to absorb forced selling once prices turned lower.
Fed minutes added pressure on risk assets
The macro backdrop was also unfavorable for high-risk assets. The latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed that most policymakers believe one more rate hike before year-end could be appropriate if economic data comes in as expected. Officials also said demand tied to energy prices and artificial intelligence investment could keep inflation pressure in place.
Rising expectations for another rate increase, together with stronger oil prices, Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar, raised the opportunity cost of holding crypto assets. In this move, macro headlines set the direction of the decline, while concentrated bullish leverage increased the speed of the drop.
$80,000 in BTC and $2,400 in ETH are the near-term levels in focus
Before the sell-off, Glassnode had warned that open interest relative to market capitalization in large- and mid-cap altcoins was elevated, with leverage reaching levels not seen since before the market crash in October 2025. The firm's first major BTC liquidation zone was identified at $81,700 to $83,300, and price has already moved through that range in the latest decline. The next model-based liquidation cluster sits around $75,000, though Glassnode noted that this is a position-distribution model rather than a price forecast.
In the near term, whether BTC can hold $80,000 and whether ETH can regain $2,500 may shape whether the deleveraging phase begins to ease. If ETH falls below its intraday low of $2,409 again without a clear drop in open interest, another round of long liquidations may follow. If price stabilizes, open interest declines and ETF outflows narrow, this episode may amount to a cleanup of excessive leverage rather than a breakdown in fundamentals.