Crypto Market Crashes As $19.5 Billion Wiped Out In Record-Breaking Liquidation Event: What Happened?

The crypto market has erased more than $19.5 billion in leveraged positions in the past 24 hours, making it the most chaotic 24-hour period in crypto history. This crash, which saw 1.6 million traders forced out of positions, was caused by sudden US tariff announcements on China and amplified by risky leverage across exchanges.

Bitcoin alone witnessed a $20,000 daily swing and erased $380 billion in market capitalization in a single day. This liquidation surpassed all previous records by nearly tenfold, surpassing records set during the FTX collapse and the March 2020 crash.

Liquidations Ripple Through Entire Crypto Market

The most recent crypto market crash took many crypto investors by surprise. Notably, data shared by The Kobeissi Letter on the social media platform X revealed that a total of $19.5 billion was liquidated between October 10 and 11, 2025, over nine times larger than any prior event. To put that into context, the February 2025 liquidation event saw only $2.2 billion erased, while the May 2021 crash cleared $1.2 billion.

Data across major exchanges confirmed that the sell-off was heavily one-sided. Out of the $19.38 billion in total liquidations, $16.7 billion came from long positions, which is a 6.7-to-1 ratio compared to shorts. Nearly every exchange, from Binance to Bybit, saw over 90% of liquidations hitting longs, with Hyperliquid alone recording $10.3 billion.

Crypto Exchange Liquidations. Source: @KobeissiLetter on X

This quick downturn is quite notable, considering the crypto market’s greed index had climbed above 60 when Bitcoin’s price action broke above $126,000 for the first time.

Crypto Fear and Greed Index. Source: @KobeissiLetter on X

What Caused The Crash?

The reason behind the crash can be attributed to a mix of extended market corrections following Bitcoin’s all-time high and rising tensions over new US tariffs on China. According to The Kobeissi Letter, the selloff unfolded through a series of perfectly timed events that tied geopolitical shocks to fragile market sentiment.

Total crypto market cap currently at $3.77 trillion. Chart: TradingView

At 9:40 AM ET, some large Bitcoin holders began selling off mysteriously, more than an hour before former U.S. President Donald Trump posted about a massive China tariff threat at 10:57 AM. Later in the day, at 4:30 PM, a large whale opened multi-million-dollar shorts, seemingly anticipating the coming drop. Just 20 minutes later, Trump officially announced a 100% tariff on China, and this delivered the final blow to bullish sentiment.

Timeline Of Events. Source: @KobeissiLetter on X

Trump’s tariff post dropped late on a Friday after US markets had closed, but the crypto market was wide open. As such, crypto prices fell into a vacuum as volume spiked, creating the perfect setup for one of the fastest collapses in crypto history. By 5:20 PM, total liquidations had reached $19.5 billion, and the whale closed positions for a $192 million profit.

Despite the carnage, The Kobeissi Letter noted that this event was technical rather than fundamental. The crash is a necessary reset that does not have long-term implications. A trade deal between the US and China would put an end to the uncertainty, and according to the team, crypto remains strong.