A wave of long-side liquidations swept through crypto markets overnight, flushing out leveraged positions across major tokens as risk assets weakened globally. The move coincided with a broad bond selloff and the steepest decline in U.S. equities since March.
Bullish traders absorbed more than $500 million in losses as bitcoin slid to around $78,000 during early Asian trading hours on Saturday. The drop marked a 3.2% decline over the past 24 hours, erasing all gains from the previous week when BTC briefly climbed above $82,000.
Altcoins followed suit. Solana (SOL) fell 5% to $86.98, extending its weekly loss to 7%. XRP dropped 4.3% to $1.41, while ether (ETH) declined 3.3% to $2,189, bringing its seven-day loss to 5.3%—the steepest among major tokens. BNB showed relative resilience, slipping 3.9% on the day but remaining up 1.1% კვირ-over-week. Dogecoin (DOGE) also weakened, down 4.2% to $0.1095.
Liquidation data from CoinGlass highlighted the imbalance: of the $581 million wiped out over the past 24 hours, $552 million came from long positions, compared to just $28 million from shorts. Bitcoin accounted for $189 million in liquidations, followed by ether at $151 million. The largest single order was a $21.59 million BTCUSDT position on Bitget.
The skew—roughly 95% of liquidations on the long side—underscores how heavily leveraged bullish positioning had become before the downturn, amplifying the impact once prices reversed.
The broader macro backdrop added to the pressure. The S&P 500 dropped 1.2% in its worst session since March, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 4% after weeks of leading the equity rally. Meanwhile, U.S. 10-year Treasury yields climbed above 4.5%, Japan’s 30-year yields hit 4% for the first time, and U.K. long-dated bond yields reached a 28-year high. The U.S. dollar extended its weekly advance, and Brent crude settled above $105.
At the core of the shift is renewed inflation concern. Stronger-than-expected CPI and PPI readings earlier in the week, combined with elevated oil prices tied to geopolitical tensions involving Iran and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, have prompted traders to reassess the policy outlook.
Markets that had been pricing in monetary easing through 2026 are now pivoting toward a more hawkish scenario, with expectations tilting toward further rate hikes rather than cuts—forcing a repricing across both traditional and digital assets.
