Binance, OKX and Bybit concentrated the highest volume of liquidations, exceeding USD 7 billion
The specter of the tariff war was invoked on October 10, again, by Donald Trump.
The day of October 10 left one of the most violent corrections of the year in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In just 24 hours, the market suffered a wave of liquidations exceeding $19 billion, according to data from CoinGlass.
According to the latest CoinGlass datain the last 12 hours only the main exchanges reflected the magnitude of the downward pressure. Binance recorded $99.76 million in total liquidationswith 58.42 million in long positions and 41.34 million in short positions. It was followed by Bybit, with 50.30 million dollars liquidated (-36.30 million in long and 14.00 million in short).
Meanwhile, Hyperliquid reported total volume of $38.60 million, while OKX reached $38.32 milliondistributed in 21.97 million long and 16.36 million short settlements. For its part, Gate.io closed the list with 35.20 million, of which 29.53 million corresponded to longs and 5.66 million to shorts.
Bitcoin fell below $110,000, while ether fell more than 8% in a matter of hours. In total, the market lost more than $125 billion in capitalization, reflecting the magnitude of the adjustment.
The liquidations They occur when an exchange automatically closes a leveraged position – whether long or short – because the price of the asset moves against the trader and the available margin is not enough to cover the losses. This mechanism seeks to prevent the operator from being left with a negative balance, but when it occurs massively, it can deepen market declines, as happened in this case.
The perfect storm: fear, leverage and trade war
The collapse on this occasion was a direct consequence of a series of macroeconomic and structural factors. The announcement by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese goods reignited the trade war between both powers and caused a massive sale of “risk assets.” Traditional markets retreated, and the impact was immediately transferred to the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
The reaction was especially intense in the futures markets, where millions of traders held long positions. – betting that prices would rise – with high levels of leverage. When the price of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) began to fall, the platforms activated automatic liquidations to protect the risk margin, triggering a cascade of forced closures that amplified the decline.
In total, More than 1.6 million traders were liquidated, most in long positions. In some time slots, settlements exceeded $7 billion per hour, according to CoinGlass.