Key Figures:
- Total liquidations: $980.9M in 24 hours
- Traders affected: over 223,300
- Long liquidations: $876.23M (90% of total)
- Bitcoin liquidations: $341.71M (90% longs)
- Ethereum liquidations: $285.64M
- Trigger: Trump-Musk public dispute + tariff fears
🌪️ Perfect Storm Hits Crypto Market
The cryptocurrency market experienced over $980.9 million in liquidations from more than 223,300 traders in the past 24 hours, according to public data aggregated on Coinglass.
Important note: The total liquidations would likely exceed this amount, as the reported figures are based on publicly available data, which may understate the true extent of market liquidations.
💥 Trump-Musk Dispute as Catalyst
“The $980M liquidation event was a perfect storm fueled by the Trump-Musk feud, tariff-driven macro fears, and a highly over-leveraged market” — said Vincent Liu, CIO at Kronos Research.
“Structural fragility in crypto, where automated liquidations can snowball quickly, turned a sentiment-driven dip into a rapid market unwind”
📊 Liquidation Breakdown
Out of the total $980.9M:
- $876.23 million in liquidations came from long positions (90%)
- Bitcoin: $341.71M liquidations (90% longs)
- Ethereum: $285.64M
- Solana, XRP, Doge: notable liquidation amounts
📉 Bitcoin’s Dramatic Fall
Bitcoin, along with Ethereum, took a sharp downturn late Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump and his right-hand man Elon Musk went into a public dispute online.
Trigger: Disagreements over Trump’s signature tax and spending bill, which Musk publicly criticized as a “disgusting abomination”.
Price Action:
- Bitcoin fell close to $100,000 (lowest since early May)
- Recovered to $103,333 at publication time
🎯 Overleveraged Market Under Pressure
“The amount of long positions liquidated indicates that over-leveraged traders were ‘caught off-guard’ by sharp drops in BTC and ETH, where excessive bullish sentiment worked against investors by amplifying the market correction” — Liu told The Block.
Nick Ruck, director at LVRG Research, added:
“Bitcoin’s price was already hovering near support levels after cooling off from its all-time high two weeks prior, investors on edge, wary of any triggers that could correct overleveraged traders”
🔮 What’s Next: Key Catalysts
Investors now look to:
- U.S. employment data (Friday)
- Consumer price index data (June 11) — expected to be a “major catalyst”
Liu added key signals to watch:
- US-China macro developments
- Talk of Trump’s “big beautiful” tariff bill
- USD strength and institutional flows
“The market remains fragile after a wave of liquidations, with overleveraged traders amplifying volatility”
Bottom Line: The crypto market’s $980M liquidation event, triggered by the Trump-Musk dispute and amplified by overleveraged positions, demonstrates the structural fragility of crypto markets where automated liquidations can rapidly cascade, turning sentiment-driven dips into major market unwinding events.