The crypto market has undergone one of the largest waves of liquidations in its history: over the past day, more than $19 billion in futures positions were forcibly closed, marking a record high for the industry. According to Coinglass, the number of affected traders exceeded 1.6 million. A significant drop in the prices of crypto assets led to an overall market capitalization decline of more than 9% in just 24 hours.
This is reported by Business • Media
Reasons for the Drop: New Tariffs and Restrictions
The collapse of the cryptocurrency market and the massive liquidations occurred after US President Donald Trump announced the imposition of additional 100% tariffs on imports from China. The president also mentioned potential US export restrictions on “critical software.” The new tariffs are set to be implemented on November 1 or earlier, in response to China’s decision regarding extensive export restrictions on most of its manufactured goods.
China, for its part, has tightened control over the export of rare earth metals, which are crucial for chip production and high-tech equipment.
Market Consequences: Record Losses and Trader Panic
Global stock markets also reacted with declines: the S&P 500 fell by 2.7%, the Dow Jones by 1.9%, and the Nasdaq by nearly 3.6%. The situation in the crypto market was even more dramatic. Bitcoin at one point dropped to $102,000, although altcoins suffered the most significant losses — many of them lost nearly half of their value, with some plummeting by 70%. In particular, Ethereum decreased to $3,700 (down 14% in a day), while Solana fell below $175.
According to CoinMarketCap, the total market capitalization of the entire crypto market shrank by nearly 10% in a day. Although some assets later partially recovered, the overall market situation remains tense.
The largest volume of liquidations occurred on the Hyperliquid exchange — over $10.3 billion of the total amount. This platform also recorded the largest single loss: one user lost more than $203 million. Analysts note that the actual volume of liquidations may be even higher, as exchanges often do not record all orders in real time. For instance, Binance reports only one liquidation order per second.
“The largest liquidation event in crypto history. In the past 24 hours, 1,618,240 traders were liquidated, with a total liquidation amount of $19.13 billion. The actual total is likely much higher — #Binance only reports one liquidation order per second.”
Due to increased load, some crypto exchanges reported temporary outages. The fear and greed index dropped to 35 points, indicating panic among market participants.