In the last 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market has suffered a record-breaking liquidation event — over $19 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out.
This mass purge was triggered by a shock geopolitical move: U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 100% tariff on critical software imports from China, reigniting fears of an escalating trade war and sending ripples through global financial markets.
Key details:
Roughly 1.6 million traders were liquidated.
The crash hit long positions hardest — many had bet on rising prices and were caught off guard.
Bitcoin alone saw more than $5 billion in liquidations, while Ethereum experienced over $4 billion wiped out.
Altcoins also collapsed — for instance, Solana lost about $2 billion in leveraged bets.
The severity of this event exceeds prior crashes like COVID-19 and FTX in terms of dollar liquidations.
This liquidation storm underscores just how fragile overleveraged markets are in the face of macro shocks. Many traders with tight margin buffers were unable to absorb the sudden reversal, causing cascading auto-liquidations.