Nearly $2 billion worth of cryptocurrency wiped out amid brutal sell-off

The cryptocurrency market has just experienced a large-scale liquidation event, with a total value of nearly $2 billion “wiped out” in just the past 24 hours, as the total market capitalization fell below the $3 trillion mark for the first time in five months.

Bitcoin (BTC) alone accounted for nearly half of all liquidations, as investors betting on a continued bull trend suffered the heaviest losses in this sharp correction.

Large-scale liquidation wave sweeps the cryptocurrency market

According to data from Coinglass, the cryptocurrency market has just recorded a widespread liquidation event. Within 24 hours, as many as 391,164 traders were liquidated, with the total value of positions reaching $1.91 billion.

Long positions (long) overwhelmingly dominated with $1.78 billion liquidated, while short positions (short) only amounted to $129.3 million. Notably, the largest liquidation occurred on Hyperliquid—a decentralized futures exchange—when a BTC-USD position worth $36.78 million was closed.

Thanh crypto liquidation nearly $2 billion | Source: Coinglass Bitcoin led in terms of liquidation size with a total of $960 million, of which long positions alone accounted for $929 million. Ethereum (ETH) ranked second with $403.15 million, most of which also came from leveraged long positions.

On-chain data shows the far-reaching impact of this liquidation wave on large investors. PeckShieldAlert reported that several ETH whales were liquidated as the price fell below $2,900, with each liquidation amount ranging from $2.9 million to $6.52 million.

Additionally, Lookonchain reported that Machi—a prominent figure in the crypto community—saw his account drop to just $15,538, raising his total losses to over $20 million. “Anti-CZ Whale” also recorded significant losses during the same period.

The blockchain analytics firm noted that investor profits on Hyperliquid have sharply declined in just 10 days, mainly due to large long positions in ETH and XRP. Notably, this whale continued to be liquidated today.

“The person once regarded as a legend with nearly $100 million in profit—now only $30.4 million profit remains,” Lookonchain commented.

This massive sell-off comes as the total market capitalization fell by more than 6% in just one day, down to $2.9 trillion. Kobeissi Letter emphasized that the market has lost up to $1.3 trillion in value since early October.

“This is one of the fastest-moving bear markets in crypto history,” the post noted.

Kobeissi Letter described this as a “mechanical bear market,” stemming from high leverage and sudden liquidations. When leveraged investors are forced to sell as prices fall, the feedback loop only increases the downward pressure. According to Kobeissi Letter’s analysis:

“Throughout the 45 days of this bear market, crypto has seen almost no fundamentally negative developments. The market is operating very efficiently and will self-correct to balance again.”

Mr. Giao