Roughly $39.12 million in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated over the past four hours, with the wipeout heavily skewed toward traders betting on a downturn—an episode that points to a short-covering burst as the market attempted a modest rebound.
According to CoinGlass data, short liquidations totaled about $34.68 million, or 88.65% of the total, while long liquidations came in at $4.44 million (11.35%). The imbalance suggests that downside positioning had become crowded, leaving short sellers vulnerable as prices stabilized and ticked higher across major tokens.
By venue, Binance led liquidation activity, accounting for $17.12 million—43.77% of the four-hour total. Of that figure, $14.95 million (87.3%) was tied to short positions. Bybit ranked second with $6.31 million in liquidations, and an even higher 94.77% share coming from shorts. OKX posted $4.16 million, Hyperliquid $3.99 million, and Gate $3.58 million, with each exchange also showing an overwhelmingly short-driven flush, generally in the 93%–99% range.
One notable outlier was HTX, where $1.45 million in liquidations was recorded, but $1.36 million came from longs—an unusual reversal versus the broader market’s short-heavy pattern. The divergence may reflect exchange-specific positioning and liquidity conditions rather than a directional shift on its own.
On a 24-hour liquidation heatmap, Bitcoin (BTC) remained the center of activity with $77.62 million liquidated, followed by Ethereum (ETH) at $62.23 million. Solana (SOL) posted $9.73 million, while other altcoins collectively accounted for $15.92 million. While BTC and ETH dominated headline figures, the latest spike in short liquidations appeared to spread into higher-beta altcoins during the short-term trading window, amplifying derivatives volatility.
Several tokens stood out for outsized liquidation relative to price change. Sui (SUI) was a key example: despite being flat over 24 hours, CoinGlass showed $4.8 million in long liquidations and $2.2 million in short liquidations over the past hour, alongside $3.6 million (long) and $2.5 million (short) over four hours. Avalanche (AVAX) rose about 0.7% but saw heavy churn—$7.1 million liquidated in the past hour and $6.3 million over four hours—suggesting elevated leverage and rapid position turnover. Solana (SOL) traded around $191.53, up roughly 0.5%, with about $6.2 million in one-hour liquidations and $5.3 million over four hours, underscoring intensified two-way flows among major altcoins.
BTC was quoted around $67,774, up about 0.2% over 24 hours, and recorded approximately $3.2 million of liquidations over the past hour and $2.9 million over four hours. ETH traded near $3,734, up roughly 0.3%, with $2.7 million liquidated over the past hour and $2.4 million over four hours. The limited spot gains paired with a short-led liquidation wave indicate that bearish positioning may have been ‘overextended’ into a market that ultimately held key levels.
Other noteworthy names included Dogecoin (DOGE), XRP, and Chainlink (LINK). DOGE hovered around $0.33, up roughly 0.1%, but still saw $4.5 million in one-hour liquidations and $3.9 million over four hours. XRP traded near $3.15, up about 0.8%, with $4.1 million liquidated in the past hour and $3.6 million over four hours. LINK was around $13.72, up roughly 0.4%, with $3.6 million in one-hour liquidations and $3.3 million over four hours. Meme coins also showed modest recovery momentum, with Shiba Inu (SHIB) up about 1.1% and Pepe (PEPE) up about 1.4%, a move that coincided with additional short covering.
Overall, the data point to a market experiencing a ‘short squeeze’ dynamic—where a rise or stabilization in price forces short sellers to close positions, often accelerating buy pressure and intraday volatility—rather than a broad-based capitulation. The concentration of short liquidations across major derivatives exchanges suggests that leverage positioning, not spot-driven selling pressure, was the dominant catalyst in the move, with volatility radiating from BTC and ETH into more reactive altcoins such as SUI, AVAX, and SOL.