Bitcoin liquidation cascade wipes out $646 million in 24 hours

Bitcoin’s drawdown to $115,300 punished the aggressive long leverage piled up in the market. BTC dropped from $117,786 at yesterday’s open to $115,353 in the early hours today, a 2.1 % slide that masked a deeper intraday swing of about $4,350 between high and low. That modest slip lit a fire under derivatives books stuffed with optimistic bets.

Liquidation data from CoinGlass showed $646.5 million in forced closures across all assets in the last 24 hours. Long positions made up $492.6 million, or 76.2 %. Shorts absorbed just $154.4 million.

Bitcoin and Ethereum were hit almost equally, at $152 million apiece. Yet BTC’s own liquidation mix still leaned heavily to the long side, with $136.0 million in long wipeouts versus $16.1 million in shorts. Ethereum showed a slightly more balanced profile ($91.1 million longs against $61.5 million shorts), suggesting ETH bears were also caught fading previous strength.

Solana and XRP rounded out the top four, losing $39.2 million and $29.9 million in long exposure, respectively. Although their prices fell 2.5 % and rose 0.1 %, the absolute dollar value of wiped long leverage reveals that smaller‑cap majors still host meaningful directional bets.

Binance was at the center of this market-wide wipeout, logging $232.9 million in net liquidations, 75 % of which were longs. Bybit followed with $187.5 million and OKX with $108.1 million. The three venues accounted for roughly 80 % of total forced exits.

The heaviest pain came in a single four‑hour block where $201.8 million worth of positions were closed, $184.8 million of which were longs. A sharp, automated unwind of such size often exaggerates price moves in the moment, creating a cascade that feeds on itself until collateral buffers stabilise.

Despite the flush, Bitcoin seems to have stabilized at just above $115,000. This indicates that the spot market absorbed the BTC that hit the market once liquidations ran their course. Funding rates have also compressed toward neutral on major perpetual swaps, indicating that some of the overheated bullish leverage has reset.