The cryptocurrency market experienced one of the most aggressive waves of forced position closures in recent months. One trader lost 201 BTC — about $15.6 million — as a result of eight consecutive liquidations in a row amid a sharp drop in US stock indices that instantly spilled over into digital assets.
The incident clearly demonstrates how quickly high leverage turns a large position into a cascade of losses during sharp market moves. The liquidation mechanism forgives no mistakes: when a trader's margin stops covering losses, the exchange forcibly closes the position — and in a volatile market this happens in an instant.
Chronicle of losses: 201 BTC in eight liquidations
The trader endured eight forced closures in a row amid mass panic selling, ultimately losing almost the entire balance. The case once again confirms: high leverage on platforms like Hyperliquid turns any sharp price move into a chain of margin calls.
Over the past 24 hours, liquidations affected 209,826 traders and cost the market $1.08 billion.
Longs accounted for $956 million — 88% of the total liquidation volume. Shorts accounted for only $130.78 million. Bitcoin led with $282.37 million, followed by Ethereum with $173.75 million. At the same time, 89.4% of Bitcoin liquidations were specifically on long positions. Binance accounted for 44.3% of all liquidations.
The Wall Street factor
The pressure began with the US stock market. On November 5, the Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 5% — the worst result in several months. Technology and chipmaker stocks fell more actively than others amid uncertainty following the US midterm elections and growing doubts about the success of AI investments. The S&P 500 lost approximately 3.8%.
The decline quickly spilled over into the crypto market as well. Bitcoin briefly rose above $80,000 after the election results were announced, but then sharply moved down and dropped to a low of $75,572. Ethereum fell to $2,239, and Solana lost 5.9%. The largest liquidation of the session was a long position on ETH on Binance worth $10.94 million.
Analyst Michaël van de Poppe noted that over the past 24 hours the market was driven by leverage, and the $75,000 level looks like the best and most obvious point for longs, coinciding with the Nasdaq low.
The crypto fear and greed index remains in the fear zone. A month ago it stood at 73 — the greed level.
For now, the high concentration of long positions makes crypto investors vulnerable to new shocks in the stock market. Therefore, in the coming sessions traders will be closely watching Wall Street's dynamics.
Cryptalist analysis: The long-to-short liquidation ratio of 88% to 12% indicates a significant skew toward "bullish" bets, which increases the market's vulnerability to repeated waves of forced closures under any external shock. The correlation of cryptocurrencies with Nasdaq remains high, and as long as the fear and greed index does not exit the fear zone, the risk of cascading liquidations persists. Institutional participants should view current levels as a zone of elevated volatility requiring stricter risk management.