Crypto markets were hit by a new wave of forced liquidations early Monday, when nearly $646 million in leveraged positions were wiped out on major exchanges, adding to the painful close to the month and extending losses in bitcoin, ether and large-cap altcoins.
Data from Coinglass shows that longs accounted for almost 90% of the total, with the largest liquidation being a $14.48 million ETH-USDC order on Binance.
Binance, Hyperliquid and Bybit each recorded more than $160 million in liquidations, reflecting strong positioning that was broken during the Asian session.
Liquidation refers to when an exchange forcibly closes a trader’s leveraged position due to a partial or complete loss of the trader’s initial margin. It occurs when a trader cannot meet the margin requirements for a leveraged position (does not have enough funds to keep the trade open).
A cascade of sell-offs often indicates market extremes, where a price reversal could be imminent as market sentiment overshoots in one direction.
Bitcoin fell more than 5% to around $86,000, while ether fell more than 6% to around $2,815. Both tokens had attempted a slight rally late last week, but forced declines dragged prices towards the lower end of the November range.
Solana, XRP, BNB and Dogecoin fell between 4% and 7% in the same period, while Cardano and Lido Staked Ether recorded deeper losses. Traders noted that low liquidity and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty contributed to the speed of the move.
The market has been struggling to stabilize after a rapid decline until late November, when macroeconomic signals, ETF outflows and weak weekend volumes combined to undo weeks of crowded positioning.
Monday’s purge followed the same pattern seen during previous sell-offs this year: strong long exposure turns into resistance, funding changes and a cascade of forced selling pushes major assets lower within hours.
Open interest in BTC and ETH perpetuals fell further after the crash, suggesting that some of the leverage that built up during the October rally continues to disappear.
Traders say positioning now looks cleaner, but with risk appetite still fragile, intraday swings are likely to remain elevated until liquidity improves during the US session.
