Ether traders took the biggest hit in the latest cryptocurrency sell-off, with roughly $356 million in ETH positions liquidated within 24 hours. That exceeded Bitcoin’s $298 million in liquidations, despite Ether’s market capitalization being less than one-fifth of BTC’s.
A liquidation occurs when a leveraged trader’s losses deplete the collateral supporting a position, prompting the exchange to close it automatically. These forced sales can accelerate market declines, creating additional selling pressure and putting more leveraged positions at risk.
Across the crypto market, total liquidations reached $1.19 billion over 24 hours. More than $1 billion came from long positions, indicating that traders expecting prices to rise accounted for most of the losses. The largest individual liquidation was an Ether position valued at nearly $20 million on Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange specializing in leveraged trading.
Relative to its market size, Ether experienced approximately six times the liquidation impact of Bitcoin. ETH liquidations amounted to around $1.2 million per $1 billion in market capitalization, compared with roughly $180,000 for BTC. Ether’s price dropped more than 3% to about $2,490, while Bitcoin declined approximately 1%.
Liquidations also affected other major tokens. Solana positions accounted for $71 million, XRP for $34 million and NEAR for $25 million. The combined total for all other cryptocurrencies was approximately $119 million.
Bitcoin’s decline accelerated late Thursday, with its price falling from around $83,200 to approximately $80,400. Pressure mounted after Federal Reserve meeting minutes revealed that most officials anticipated another interest-rate hike before year-end. Meanwhile, reports that the Pentagon was preparing for potentially renewed military operations in Iran pushed oil prices higher, weighing further on risk assets.
Market anxiety was compounded by Ethereum researcher Justin Drake’s warning that artificial intelligence could threaten the mathematical systems protecting crypto wallets earlier than expected. Traders had also increased their leverage throughout the week while Bitcoin fluctuated between $83,000 and $87,000. Once the price broke below that range, heavily leveraged positions became vulnerable to forced liquidation.
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Bitcoin’s recovery has now begun squeezing traders who bet on further declines. The cryptocurrency climbed to around $82,200 after President Donald Trump said the United States would not attack Iran before the midterm elections. Approximately 78% of the $25 million liquidated over the previous four hours came from short positions. In the most recent hour, short sellers accounted for nearly $12 million of roughly $13 million in liquidations.
The rebound comes just one day before the anniversary of October 10, 2025, when the crypto market experienced a record $19 billion in liquidations within 24 hours—about 16 times Thursday’s total. Bitcoin is currently trading approximately $800 below the $83,000 threshold where Thursday’s selling pressure began.
