XRP and Dogecoin Decline 12% as Altcoin Market Slump Causes the Biggest Bullish Liquidation in Almost Three Years.

On Tuesday, the crypto market faced one of its worst trading sessions in recent months, as major and midcap tokens experienced a sharp decline during early Asian trading hours. Bitcoin (BTC), however, showed relative stability.

XRP, Dogecoin (DOGE), and Cardano’s ADA all dropped as much as 15% over the past 24 hours, with the selling pressure intensifying during the late U.S. trading hours and continuing into the Asian session. Bitcoin fell 3%, while Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) experienced a 7% drop. Tron’s TRX saw a significant 17% decrease, almost reversing all of its gains from the previous week.

The overall market capitalization decreased by 6.5%, the largest drop since October, while the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index slumped by 7%.

Although no immediate catalyst for the sell-off emerged, the market downturn coincided with Google’s announcement of the benchmark tests for its Willow quantum computing chip, sparking concerns within the crypto space about potential risks to privacy and wallet security.

Analysts and traders had earlier warned of short-term selling pressure as the market showed signs of overheating following November’s strong rally, a trend reported by CoinDesk earlier on Monday.

The sell-off resulted in over $1.5 billion in long positions being liquidated — the highest such figure since 2021. Altcoin futures, particularly under the “Others” category tracked by CoinGlass, led the losses, with $560 million liquidated. Dogecoin and XRP futures contributed to more than $70 million in liquidations each.

Market analysts noted that the selling pressure began with U.S.-listed Coinbase, where XRP’s market movement was unusually impacted, and pointed to over-leveraged positions as a key factor.

“Something really unusual took place,” said prominent quant trader @ltrd_ on X. “We saw a series of large sell orders that caused the market to dip by over 5%. While it’s unclear what triggered it, it’s definitely out of the ordinary.”

“These sell orders are far from typical,” they added. “It could be that a major player was forced to sell in a panic.”

Liquidations occur when exchanges close a trader’s leveraged positions due to their failure to meet margin requirements. Large-scale liquidations often signal extreme market conditions, such as panic selling or buying. A cascade of liquidations can be indicative of a market turning point, suggesting a potential price reversal driven by an overreaction to market sentiment.