$19B Crypto Liquidation Wipes Out 1.6M Traders in 24 Hours
The crypto market has just had one of the craziest days ever with over $19 billion in liquidations in 24 hours. According to Coinglass...
Quick overview
- The crypto market experienced over $19 billion in liquidations within 24 hours, marking the largest single day liquidation in history.
- The crash was triggered by President Trump's announcement of 100% tariffs on Chinese imports, leading to a global sell-off in risk assets.
- Altcoins suffered significant losses, with some down 90%, as forced liquidations on centralized exchanges exacerbated market volatility.
- Despite the chaos, industry experts believe long-term opportunities may arise, with expectations of a Bitcoin bull run by 2026.
The crypto market has just had one of the craziest days ever with over $19 billion in liquidations in 24 hours. According to Coinglass over 1.6 million traders had their leveraged positions wiped out – the largest single day liquidation in crypto history.
The crash came after US President Donald Trump announced 100% tariffs on Chinese imports which triggered a global sell off across risk assets. Bitcoin went to $105,000 before stabilizing at $112,000. The entire market lost around $670 billion in value – one of the worst days since the “Trump Liberation Day” sell off in April.
Compared to the May 2021 crash when $8.6 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out as Bitcoin went from $43,000 to $30,000 this is a whole new level of leverage and volatility in the crypto markets.
$BTC $ETH The largest 24-hour liquidation event on record (~$19B) underscores how excessive leverage still dominates crypto derivatives.
— ClearPath (@ClearPath100) October 11, 2025
Altcoins Get Wiped Out
It wasn’t just Bitcoin. Altcoins got smashed with several on Binance down 90%. Industry veteran Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, said the chaos was due to auto-liquidations on centralized exchanges (CEXs).
He explained that margin linked collateral triggers caused a domino effect leading to forced sales. Opportunistic traders with low “stink bids” bought discounted assets during the chaos.
Key points from Hayes’ insights:
- Forced cross-margin liquidations amplified volatility.
- CEXs faced liquidity strain, deepened price drops.
- Traders with patience and capital may find long term opportunities.
Hayes is still optimistic and expects a big Bitcoin bull run by 2026 when the Fed eases.
$19B+ just wiped in crypto’s largest single-day liquidation, driven by U.S.-China trade tensions and AI bubble fears. Historically, such flushes bring short-term rebounds — but macro risk looms. Stay sharp. 🙏
— SD (@TraderSDu) October 11, 2025
Exchanges Struggle During Market Mayhem
The sudden surge in trading volume overwhelmed the exchanges. Binance, Coinbase, Robinhood and Kraken all had delays and outages, freezing order books and slowing down transaction processing. Binance confirmed their systems were back up after several hours of downtime.
The widespread technical issues highlights a recurring problem for crypto exchanges during high volatility periods. As the market stabilizes analysts warn that renewed regulatory scrutiny and margin reforms could follow this historic crash.
But long term investors see opportunity – history shows that extreme fear often precedes big recoveries in the crazy world of crypto.
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