Cryptocurrency traders lost more than $100 million in liquidations on Monday as digital asset prices plummeted as war in the Middle East escalated. CoinGlass data shows that as of the afternoon in the United States, about $105 million in long positions have been liquidated, setting a record for the largest single-day long position liquidation since September 11.
The reckoning comes as cryptocurrency prices plunge, with fighting between Israel and Hamas and rising regional unrest affecting investors, weighing on risk assets. Bitcoin (BTC) fell more than 2% before recovering to $27,600; Ethereum (ETH) fell nearly 5% at one point, and Solana (SOL), Polygon's native token (MATIC) and Polkadot (DOT) fell 6% to 7% , and then rebounded.
Liquidation occurs when an exchange closes a leveraged trading position due to a partial or total loss of the trader's initial capital, or "margin," resulting in the trader failing to meet margin requirements or having insufficient funds to maintain the position. CoinGlass said ETH derivatives traders were the first to bear the brunt, liquidating $32.78 million in long positions in the past 24 hours. The largest single liquidation order was a $4.5 million long ETH-BUSD on the Binance exchange.