Nearly $800 million in leveraged trades were liquidated across crypto markets in 24 hours, with bullish positions making up 86% of the losses. Contracts tied to semiconductor stocks were also caught in the selloff, highlighting the growing presence of equity-linked bets on crypto exchanges.
Traders wagering on SanDisk (SNDK) faced more forced liquidations than XRP traders over the same period, reflecting the amount of leveraged exposure now concentrated in chip stocks.
More than $800 million in positions were forcibly closed across 10 exchanges after Bitcoin (BTC) slipped below $81,000 during early Asian trading.
Liquidation activity surged in the final 12 hours, reaching about $595 million, or nearly 75% of the 24-hour total. The spike occurred as South Korea’s KOSPI index dropped more than 6% and Bitcoin fell to just below $81,000.
The biggest individual liquidation was a $9.65 million Bitcoin long position on Binance, closed at roughly $81,700. Binance accounted for approximately half of all liquidations recorded.
Exchanges trigger liquidations when losses on borrowed trades consume the collateral backing a position. Long trades, which rely on prices moving higher, accounted for $694 million in liquidations, representing 86% of the total.
Bitcoin recorded $181 million in liquidations, while ether followed with $178 million despite its smaller market size.
SanDisk-linked perpetual futures ranked among the hardest-hit stock contracts, with $19.5 million in liquidations. That figure surpassed the $19 million recorded for HYPE and the $18.78 million seen in XRP positions.
Perpetual futures enable traders to speculate on share prices through crypto exchanges around the clock, without a fixed contract expiry.
The liquidation heatmap also showed losses in contracts linked to SK Hynix, Micron and SOXL, a U.S. semiconductor ETF offering three-times leveraged exposure. SOXL alone recorded $7.21 million in liquidations.
The losses tracked a sharp downturn in South Korean chip stocks. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both fell around 8% as investors reassessed AI-related valuations and concerns grew over competition from Chinese memory-chip makers, CoinDesk reported.
Oil-linked contracts showed the opposite pattern. WTI and Brent crude were among the few markets where short positions accounted for most liquidations, with Brent holding near $106 following a three-day rally.
In the latest four-hour period, however, liquidations shifted toward bearish traders. Of the $74 million in positions liquidated, $59 million, or 79%, came from shorts as Bitcoin recovered above $83,000.
After bullish positions drove most of the day’s forced closures, short sellers began taking the larger share of losses. Bitcoin heads toward Thursday’s U.S. inflation report with a substantial portion of its leveraged long exposure already removed.
