TL;DR:
- The crypto market experienced over $400 million in leveraged position liquidations in just 24 hours.
- Ethereum (ETH) led the losses with $180 million liquidated, closely followed by Bitcoin (BTC) with $177 million.
- The catalyst was Bitcoin’s rejection at the key resistance zone of $92,000–$93,000, forcing traders out.
The crypto market was shaken over the last 24 hours by a wave of massive liquidation that affected BTC and ETH, wiping out over $400 million in leveraged positions. The shakeup not only impacted the most important cryptos but also spilled over to a range of assets, demonstrating that excessive leverage was concentrated in both small-cap cryptocurrencies and the largest tokens in the ecosystem.
The asset hardest hit by the wave was Ethereum, with losses of over $180 million in liquidations. The king of the market followed suit, with Bitcoin registering $117 million in liquidations. Solana, DOGE, and Zcash also felt the impact of the wave, confirming that positioning had become too crowded. The convergence of technical and macroeconomic factors quickly activated the deleveraging, exposing the stretch of open positions.
Bitcoin’s Rejection at Resistance Triggered the Drop
The Bitcoin price failed to break above the resistance zone between $92,000 and $93,000, which caused the liquidation cycle to intensify. This area had accumulated a constant volume of long positions over the past week. The failure to break out forced leveraged traders out, initiating a cascade that spread first to Ethereum and then to the rest of the market.
The BTC price faced constant rejections in the range of $92,800 to $93,900. Furthermore, trading volume has remained below the necessary range, an indication that optimism is draining among traders. With Open Interest at high levels, the liquidation quickly accelerated the downward momentum as forced selling triggered further drops.
In summary, massive crypto liquidation events, though disruptive, often act as a rebalancing mechanism, cleaning out excess leverage and resetting funding rates.
What happens in the coming days will depend on how Open Interest rebuilds and whether Bitcoin will try again to reclaim its resistance zone, supported this time by stronger liquidity. However, a continued decline in market depth could keep conditions unstable until the end of the year, tilting the balance toward a risk-off scenario.
