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Bitcoin slid toward $82,000 as crypto liquidations hit $1.7B, triggering extreme fear and a sharp sell-off in high-risk meme coins.
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Meme-coin KOL Murad Mahmudov saw his portfolio plunge 86%, losing $58M as concentrated bets and leverage amplified losses in the downturn.
January 2026 opened with a sharp reminder of crypto’s volatility. Bitcoin slipped toward the $82,000 mark, while total market liquidations surged past $1.7 billion in a single wave of selling. Investor sentiment deteriorated rapidly, with the Crypto Fear & Greed Index falling into extreme fear territory. Amid this market stress, a high-profile meme coin collapse drew widespread attention across the crypto community.
Murad’s Portfolio Suffers a Severe Drawdown
According to Ash Crypto, prominent meme-coin KOL Murad Mahmudov saw his meme coin portfolio collapse by nearly 86% over the past six months. At its peak in July 2025, the portfolio was valued at around $67 million. Today, that figure has fallen sharply to roughly $9.1 million, translating to cumulative losses of about $58 million during the downturn.
The scale of the drawdown has made Murad’s portfolio a clear case study of how quickly speculative crypto wealth can evaporate when market conditions shift.
Concentration Risk Amplifies Losses
Murad’s holdings were heavily concentrated in meme-based tokens, which suffered some of the steepest declines during the broader market pullback that began in late 2024. His largest reported position, SPX6900 ($SPX), dropped more than 80% from its all-time high. Other major meme coin positions reportedly fell between 75% and 90%, compounding the overall damage.
This concentration significantly amplified losses as risk appetite faded. Unlike larger cryptocurrencies with deeper liquidity and broader use cases, meme coins tend to move sharply with sentiment, making them especially vulnerable during market-wide sell-offs.
Why Meme Coins Get Hit the Hardest
Analysts point to several overlapping factors driving such extreme declines. A shift in macro sentiment often pushes investors away from speculative assets first. Meme coins, which typically lack strong fundamentals or utility, are highly dependent on hype cycles and social momentum. Once that momentum breaks, selling pressure can escalate quickly.
Leverage also plays a key role. Aggressive traders frequently use borrowed capital in meme coin markets, which can trigger cascading liquidations as prices fall, accelerating losses across the board.
A Broader Lesson for Crypto Investors
While Mahmudov’s experience is notable due to his public profile, the pattern itself is familiar to seasoned crypto observers. Sharp drawdowns of 75% to 95% are not unusual for meme coins during broader downturns. The episode reinforces a long-standing lesson: diversification matters, speculative assets carry outsized risk, and capital allocated to high-volatility tokens must be money investors can afford to lose.
As crypto markets remain fragile, Murad’s portfolio collapse stands as a timely reminder that even during bull cycles, risk management remains essential.