Bitcoin, ether and XRP selloff wipes out $1.5 billion in leveraged crypto bets

By CoinDeskan hour ago Updated

Crypto traders betting on higher prices had about $1.29 billion in positions forcibly closed over the past 24 hours, as the selloff following Binance’s security breach pushed bitcoin, ether and smaller tokens lower.

Total liquidations reached $1.53 billion by Friday morning in Asia, according to CoinGlass. Long positions, bets that prices would rise, accounted for 83.8% of the total.

Most of the losses came in the latest 12 hours, which accounted for roughly $1.37 billion in liquidations, including $1.23 billion of longs.

The forced closures followed Thursday’s Binance breach, which the exchange estimates affected about $6.3 billion in assets. Binance has pledged to cover losses and suspended deposits and withdrawals while conducting security checks.

Bitcoin fell as low as about $76,460 before recovering toward $78,500. Ether traded around $2,240 after dipping below $2,200, while SOL, XRP and dogecoin were also lower.

Leveraged traders put up a fraction of a position’s value as collateral. When prices move far enough against them, the exchange closes the trade automatically to prevent further losses. Closing longs typically generates sell orders, adding pressure while prices are already falling.

Bitcoin positions accounted for about $499 million in liquidations and ether another $358 million, together making up more than half the total. Solana followed at $82.6 million, XRP at $38.1 million and dogecoin at $18.6 million.

Of that, binance recorded $754.6 million in forced closures, or 49.2% of the market-wide total. About $670.6 million of that came from longs. Hyperliquid followed with $251.4 million and Bybit with $186.5 million.

The largest individual liquidation tracked by CoinGlass was an $11 million bitcoin long on Binance.

Meanwhile, the rebound was beginning to hurt traders betting on further declines too. Shorts accounted for $57.3 million of the $85 million liquidated in the latest four hours. In the latest hour, they made up $20.6 million of $21.6 million, about 95%.

Closing a short requires buying back the position, so traders caught betting against a recovery can help push prices higher as they exit.