Bitcoin liquidations top $1.3 billion as leveraged crypto bets unwind

what happened

Liquidations of leveraged Bitcoin longs are growing larger and more frequent, TradingView reports. Over the past year, daily liquidations exceeded $500 million on 13 separate occasions, and three of those episodes passed $1 billion, based on Coinglass data covering 28 futures exchanges.

The latest slump came as roughly $1.3 billion of bullish crypto positions were wiped out over a single day, most of it in Bitcoin. Bitcoin has shed more than 20% since October 21, dipping to $66,586 in Asian trading on Saturday, its lowest point since August. Pressures include outflows from ETFs, the fallout from a $6 billion Binance hack, high oil prices, sticky inflation and expectations of more Federal Reserve rate hikes.

Some market participants argue that weakness in AI stocks could pull speculative money away from Bitcoin, since tech shares look more attractive to dip buyers.

why it matters

For traders, the episode shows how thin liquidity and cascading stop orders can amplify moves in a market where derivatives make up about three-quarters of volume. Some in the industry argue that large liquidations reflect how leverage is distributed rather than weakness in the asset itself.

market impact

Bitcoin: forced closures of leveraged longs add pressure on the price

• ▼Bitcoin pressure down — forced leveraged selling and ETF outflows weigh on the price

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