Nearly $1 billion in crypto bets liquidated as bitcoin, ether and XRP slide
Cryptocurrency markets experienced a sharp downturn on Thursday, resulting in nearly $1 billion in liquidated leveraged positions. The sell-off was driven by investor uncertainty regarding the Federal Reserve's upcoming interest-rate decisions, with Ethereum and Bitcoin seeing significant price drops.
Why it matters
The mass liquidation of leveraged positions highlights the high volatility and systemic risk inherent in crypto markets, where borrowed capital can amplify losses and trigger cascading sell-offs.
Crypto losses worsened on Thursday morning as uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s next interest-rate decision weighed on markets. Bitcoin traded around $81,000, down roughly 3% over 24 hours, while ether lost more than 6% to about $2,350. XRP and Solana’s SOL fell around 5%, and dogecoin dropped roughly 6%.
Ether contracts accounted for about $286 million of liquidations, compared with $197 million for bitcoin, according to CoinGlass data checked during Asian morning hours. Ether fell about 6.4% to $2,356, while bitcoin lost roughly 3.2% to trade around $81,000.
Liquidations happen when traders use borrowed money and a price move leaves them without enough collateral to keep their bets open. The exchange closes the position automatically. Someone using $1,000 to control a $10,000 position, for example, can lose their backing on a move of less than 10% against them.
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