Bitcoin liquidations exceed $684M in 24 hours as shorts get crushed

The crypto derivatives market just had a very expensive day. Over $684 million in leveraged positions were wiped out across exchanges in a 24-hour window, with short sellers absorbing the lion’s share of the pain at roughly $422 million in liquidations compared to $261 million from longs.

Approximately 100,000 traders were caught on the wrong side of the trade.

Where the damage landed

Bitcoin accounted for roughly $182 million of the total liquidations. Ethereum actually led the carnage with approximately $262 million in forced closures, suggesting ETH traders were running hotter leverage into what turned out to be a volatile session.

The single largest individual liquidation was a $20.28 million ETH-USD perpetual position on Hyperliquid.

Binance, Hyperliquid, Bybit, OKX, and Gate.io all saw substantial volume surges as the liquidation cascade unfolded.

Bitcoin is currently trading near $77,000, a level that reflects the intensity of the price swings that triggered the wave of forced closures.

The macro trigger

This wasn’t a crypto-native event. The liquidation wave coincided with a cocktail of macroeconomic pressures that sent risk assets broadly lower before a sharp reversal punished the shorts.

Hotter-than-expected US producer price index data landed during the period, catching markets off guard. Rising oil prices added to the inflationary narrative. Bond yields climbed. And expectations around Federal Reserve interest rate policy shifted.

The short-heavy liquidation profile, with shorts outnumbering longs by a ratio of roughly 1.6 to 1, suggests that many traders had bet on continued downside pressure from the macro headwinds, only to get squeezed when prices reversed.

Context and what comes next

A $684 million liquidation day is significant, but it’s not unprecedented in 2026. Similar events this year have ranged from hundreds of millions to over $1 billion in daily liquidations during peak volatility periods.

The $422 million in short liquidations effectively represented forced buying pressure, as exchanges closed out those positions by purchasing the underlying assets.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.