Tokenized SanDisk Positions Suffer More Liquidations Than XRP Amid $800M Chip Rout

Around $800 million in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with bullish bets accounting for 86% of the losses. Contracts tied to semiconductor stocks also suffered significant liquidations on crypto trading platforms.

Traders speculating on SanDisk (SNDK) experienced greater forced liquidations over the past day than those trading XRP, highlighting how much leverage on crypto exchanges has shifted toward chip stocks.

More than $800 million in leveraged positions were wiped out across 10 exchanges during the 24-hour period, as Bitcoin (BTC) fell to just below $81,000 during early Asian trading.

Liquidations accelerated sharply in the final 12 hours, reaching approximately $595 million, or nearly 75% of the daily total. The wave of forced closures coincided with a decline of more than 6% in South Korea’s KOSPI index and Bitcoin’s drop below $81,000.

The largest individual liquidation involved a $9.65 million Bitcoin long position on Binance, which was closed near $81,700. Binance accounted for approximately half of all liquidations during the period.

A liquidation occurs when an exchange automatically closes a leveraged position after a trader’s losses consume the collateral backing it. Long positions, which profit when prices rise, represented $694 million of the total liquidations, equivalent to 86%.

Bitcoin recorded the largest amount of liquidations at $181 million. Ether followed closely with $178 million, despite having a considerably smaller market capitalization than Bitcoin.

Stock-linked contracts also sustained heavy losses. Perpetual futures tracking SanDisk, the U.S. memory-chip manufacturer, recorded $19.5 million in liquidations. That exceeded the $19 million recorded for HYPE and the $18.78 million associated with XRP.

These perpetual futures allow traders to speculate on stock prices around the clock through crypto exchanges, without having to settle contracts on a fixed expiration date.

Other instruments appearing on the liquidation heatmap included contracts linked to SK Hynix, Micron and SOXL, a U.S. semiconductor exchange-traded fund offering three times leveraged exposure. SOXL alone recorded $7.21 million in liquidations.

The losses coincided with a steep decline in South Korean technology stocks. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each dropped approximately 8% amid concerns about elevated AI-related valuations and growing competition from Chinese memory-chip manufacturers, as CoinDesk reported.

Oil-linked contracts moved differently. WTI and Brent crude futures were among the few markets where short positions accounted for most liquidations, while Brent traded near $106 following a three-day rally.

Liquidation activity subsequently shifted direction. Of the $74 million in positions closed during the latest four-hour period, $59 million, or 79%, came from short positions as Bitcoin recovered above $83,000.

With long positions responsible for 86% of the day’s liquidations and short sellers now absorbing most of the more recent losses, much of Bitcoin’s leveraged bullish exposure has been cleared ahead of Thursday’s U.S. inflation report.