The cryptocurrency market has crashed: forced liquidations have reached nearly $1 billion
The cryptocurrency market has suffered a massive blow: over the past 24 hours, the volume of forced liquidations of margin positions reached a staggering $993.70 million. The wave of sell-offs affected thousands of traders, and the main damage, as expected, fell on flagship assets — Bitcoin and Ethereum. This is a classic example of a cascade liquidation, where a sharp price drop knocks out long positions, intensifying selling pressure and triggering further declines.
Red Zone: The Scale of the Fall
The market heatmap clearly demonstrates the total nature of the sell-off. Over the day, Bitcoin (BTC) lost 4.07%, and Ethereum (ETH) — 4.91%. Other key altcoins also went deep into the red:
- DOGE: -5.86%
- XRP: -4.28%
- SOL: -4.13%
- BNB: -3.78%
It is obvious that the problem is systemic in nature, rather than a local failure of any single coin. By Wednesday evening, the decline partially slowed: Bitcoin stabilized around $61,000, and Ethereum recovered to approximately $1,606 after a minor intraday correction.
Longs Under Fire: Who Lost the Most?
The main reason for such a rapid crash was the excess of leveraged positions. The daily liquidation map shows how buyers who had built up positions in anticipation of growth were massively knocked out of the market by protective stop orders. Total losses on long positions amounted to $781.38 million, while short positions suffered significantly less — $212.32 million.
The main blow was taken by the largest centralized and decentralized trading platforms. The distribution of losses across key exchanges is as follows:
- Binance: $432.83 million (43.56% of the market)
- Hyperliquid: $189.76 million (19.10%)
- Bybit: $140.85 million (14.17%)
- Gate: $67.46 million (6.79%)
- OKX: $62.53 million (6.29%)
- Bitget: $46.60 million (4.69%)
Binance recorded an absolute record in terms of closed trade volumes. The second place was unexpectedly taken by the decentralized platform Hyperliquid, surpassing many large centralized services. The top three is rounded out by the Bybit exchange, where traders lost over $140.85 million.
Technical Analysis: Bitcoin Hits Resistance at $63,000
The liquidation heatmap for the BTC/USDT pair on Binance shows why a rebound for Bitcoin or Ethereum is currently in question. Almost all day on June 23, Bitcoin was trading sideways near $63,000, and then began to decline. On June 24, the price continued to fall in steps — Bitcoin dropped to $59,700 and only found support around $60,000.
Bright liquidation clusters are now located in the $61,500–63,000 area. Many margin positions have accumulated in this range, which could become strong resistance if the market attempts to recover. If buyers can regain the initiative and push the price above $63,000, the local bearish scenario will completely lose its relevance. Conversely, a break below the support level of $59,700 will open a clear path for further decline, which will undoubtedly trigger another massive wave of forced closures.
My analysis: The current situation is a classic "cleansing" of the market from excessive leverage. Until Bitcoin firmly establishes itself above $63,000, it is premature to talk about a trend reversal. Traders should exercise extreme caution and avoid aggressively building positions until the situation becomes clearer.