$404.15 Million in Long Positions Liquidated as Bitcoin Falls Below $80,000
Key Facts
Crypto long positions lost $404.15 million over four hours through 1 p.m. ET on Oct. 24, out of total liquidations of $436.44 million, according to a report by The Block. The wave coincided with Bitcoin falling to about $79,280 around 11:20 a.m., before rising to $80,138 at 1 p.m. The liquidations followed a temporary drop in price below $80,000. The four-hour tally shows that long positions accounted for most of the positions forcibly closed during that window. The wave of closures extended to other trading platforms and assets, while open interest in crypto futures fell during the day.
The two largest bursts of long liquidations were concentrated in two short periods on Saturday morning. In a 15-minute period starting at 10:15 a.m. ET, $208.21 million in long positions were closed, followed by $131.17 million in liquidations over 15 minutes starting at 11:15 a.m., according to figures reported by The Block. Between 8 a.m. and noon, long liquidations reached $401.91 million. That was the largest total for any four-hour period since the night of Oct. 14, when they reached $505.57 million. The comparison puts Saturday's wave below the Oct. 14 peak, but makes it the largest of its kind in the intervening period.
Over the 24 hours through the report, crypto market liquidations totaled $815.26 million, up 218% from the previous day, affecting 201,012 traders, according to The Block. Over the same period, futures open interest fell 2.2% to $140.10 billion. The largest single liquidation order over the 24 hours was a long position in an ETH-USDT contract worth $11.85 million on Binance, and the position was closed at $2,307.65. In the four-hour liquidation window, Binance recorded $226.07 million in liquidations, 96% of them from long positions. On Hyperliquid, liquidations totaled $70.47 million, with long positions accounting for 99.8%.
As Bitcoin rebounded, some closures toward the end of the window shifted to short positions: their liquidations totaled $8.35 million out of $10.62 million liquidated during the hour ending at 1:09 p.m. ET, according to the report. In spot Bitcoin funds, daily flows were mixed at the end of the week. On Oct. 23, IBIT recorded outflows of $110.34 million, about $31.78 million flowed out of FBTC, while MSBT received inflows of $4.19 million, according to figures cited by The Block. Inflows into MSBT offset part of the outflows from the other two funds. In spot Ethereum funds, net inflows totaled $4.35 million on Friday, but they did not prevent net outflows of $220.60 million during the week of Oct. 19 to 23.
Saturday's wave followed fluctuations in spot Bitcoin fund flows. The funds recorded inflows of $442.7 million in the week ended Oct. 22, their best week since late September, according to SoSoValue data cited by Investing.com. The report said those inflows did not materially support the price. In the broader market context, Investing.com linked weak risk appetite to a broad sell-off in technology stocks and concerns about higher interest rates and the sustainability of AI valuations, noting that rising oil prices added to market turbulence. An earlier report by the site also said Bitcoin's closes since Oct. 13 had remained within a range of $81,400 to $83,100, a width of 2.1%, and that realized volatility was about 18% annualized through Oct. 20. In EL7 data, Bitcoin's daily close was $80,888.16 on Oct. 24, then $80,154.09 on Oct. 25 and $79,715.99 on Oct. 26.
Upcoming economic events include the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Oct. 27 and 28, with the Federal Reserve scheduled to hold a press conference on Oct. 28, according to the central bank's calendar. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis also set Oct. 29 at 8:30 a.m. ET for the release of its advance estimate of third-quarter GDP and the September personal income and spending report. The dates follow the liquidation wave and volatile digital-asset fund flows during the week. Their timing gives traders two near-term economic events to monitor for the market. EL7.AI published a report on Oct. 23 about $418 million in crypto long positions liquidated as the market declined.