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Crypto market suffers largest liquidation wave in history — over $19 billion wiped out
Most crypto assets plunged sharply in price, with the market losing over 9% of its total capitalization in 24 hours.
Alongside the broad decline, traders faced massive futures liquidations totaling $19 billion in a single day — a historic record, according to Coinglass.
The crash occurred following Donald Trump’s announcement of new tariffs on China.
The widespread sell-off, which began on the evening of Friday, October 10, triggered over $19 billion in forced futures liquidations — the largest ever recorded.
What happened?
The market crash and subsequent liquidations followed U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of 100% tariffs on Chinese goods, in addition to existing ones.
He also mentioned potential U.S. export restrictions on “critical software.”
According to Trump, the new tariffs will take effect “on November 1 or sooner,” as he wrote on his social platform Truth Social.
He described the decision as a response to China’s move to impose sweeping export restrictions “on virtually all products it manufactures.”
Earlier, China had tightened control over the export of rare earth metals — elements crucial for chip production and high-performance equipment.
The market “bled out”
Markets reacted with sharp declines:
the S&P 500 recorded its largest drop since April — down 2.7%,
Dow Jones fell 1.9%,
and Nasdaq plunged nearly 3.6%.
The crypto market, however, saw even more dramatic moves.
Following Trump’s statement, most digital assets plummeted, with Bitcoin briefly dipping to $102,000.
While Bitcoin’s drop was steep, altcoins suffered far worse:
many lost nearly half their value, and some fell as much as 70%.
Ethereum tumbled to $3,700 (-14% daily),
and Solana dropped below $175.
Some assets have since recovered slightly, but the market remains under pressure.
According to CoinMarketCap, total crypto market capitalization fell by almost 10% in 24 hours.
Record-breaking liquidations
The crash triggered the largest liquidation wave in history.
Coinglass reported that positions of more than 1.6 million traders, totaling over $19 billion, were forcibly closed — mostly long positions worth over $16 billion.
The largest share of liquidations occurred on Hyperliquid — $10.3 billion in total.
The single biggest liquidation also took place there, where one user lost over $203 million.
The actual total losses could be even higher, as Coinglass notes that exchanges don’t always report such data in real time.
For example, Binance reportedly publishes no more than one liquidation order per second.
Meanwhile, several exchanges experienced outages due to heavy load.
As of writing, the Fear & Greed Index had fallen to 35 points — indicating a market dominated by fear.
See also: "Bitcoin drops 13% amid bearish trading and pullback"
