Biggest Crypto Liquidation Ever Sees $16B Longs Decimated Amid Market Chaos

Crypto liquidations continued their rout early morning Asia hours after the broader crypto market continued its plunge hours after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened 100% tariffs on Chinese imports via a Truth Social post , which triggered a global risk-off wave and wiped out more than $16 billion in long positions by midday Hong Kong time. Trader anxiety that a cooling trade war was about to re-ignite sent a macro shock rippling through crypto, triggering one of the largest long declines in prices of BTC, ETH and other digital assets seen all year. Bitcoin recovered to $113,294 and Ether to $3,844 as the CoinDesk 20 Index slid 12.1%. The world's largest cryptocurrency had fallen below $110,000 briefly, marking a 10% decline over the past 24 hours. Crypto's total market cap dropped to $3.87 trillion, and roughly $16.7 billion of the $19.1 billion in liquidations came from longs, while Ethena’s USDe briefly printed $0.9996, a mild deviation that highlights peg stress when derivatives markets whipsaw. Friday's crash saw crypto's worst liquidation in terms of pure volume, seeing over 10 times as much dollar value liquidated as the crashes when FTX collapsed in 2022 or when global markets melted down during the early COVID lockdowns. At a percentage level, Friday's crash is much less significant, given how much the overall crypto market has grown since 2022. CoinGlass said in a post on X that while it recorded $19.13 billion in liquidations, "the actual total is likely much higher," noting that crypto exchange Binance — the largest in the world — does not report as quickly as other platforms. The Ethena team said USDe minting and redemptions remained fully operational despite the volatility and pointed out that the stablecoin is even more overcollateralized as unrealized gains from short positions are realized. Adding to traders’ concerns, the U.S. government shutdown has delayed key economic data releases, leaving markets to navigate without official indicators just as trade war rhetoric returns to center stage. UPDATE (Oct. 11, 2025, 04:00 UTC): Adds context on the significance of Friday's liquidations. UPDATE (Oct. 11, 04:20 UTC): Adds CoinGlass note.