$200M Loss Hits Single BTC Trader Amid $1B Liquidation Cascade Across Crypto

Bitcoin Whales Crushed as $1.15B in Crypto Longs Liquidated, Binance Hit Hardest

A wave of cascading liquidations rocked the crypto market Thursday, obliterating over $1.15 billion in leveraged long positions and halting bullish momentum that had been building on the back of Circle’s blockbuster IPO and renewed DeFi enthusiasm.

The largest single liquidation, a $200 million BTC long on Binance, stunned traders and marked one of the year’s biggest one-off losses. While the identity of the trader remains unknown, the event has sent shockwaves through leveraged trading circles.

According to Coinglass, more than 247,000 traders were liquidated over the 24-hour period, with Binance and Bybit together accounting for over $834 million of the total. The majority of the pain was felt by bulls, whose long bets had piled up in recent sessions amid a wave of market optimism.

Bitcoin fell to $104,700, down more than 3%, while ether (ETH) plummeted 8% to $2,530. Altcoins fared even worse: Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), and XRP each tumbled more than 8%.

The sell-off was triggered in part by technical resistance and fragile macro sentiment, as well as over-leveraged bets that had pushed funding rates to elevated levels in recent days.

Liquidations — the forced closing of leveraged positions when margin requirements aren’t met — remain one of the defining risks of crypto markets, often amplifying volatility and compounding downside pressure during selloffs.

Market observers say the wipeout could serve as a reset, flushing out excess leverage and paving the way for a more stable recovery phase — assuming macro conditions cooperate.