en
Back to the list

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP Crash as $1.7B Got Liquidated in 24 Hours

source-logo  coinpedia.org 3 h
image

The crypto market just suffered its biggest flash crash since October 2025, wiping out $108 billion in just six minutes. The total market value fell from $2.68 trillion to $2.55 trillion as selling pressure increased. More than $1.71 billion in crypto positions were liquidated, hitting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins the hardest.

Crypto Rally Halt Turned Into $1.7B Liquidations

According to CoinGlass, 281,846 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours, causing around $1.71 billion in total losses. Most of the damage came from long positions, with $574 million wiped out in just four hours as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies dropped sharply.

The liquidation wave also hit crypto derivatives markets hard. Open interest across cryptocurrencies fell by $3.34 billion, or 5.18%, in a short period, leaving total open interest at around $55.60 billion.

The sharp decline shows how quickly leverage was removed from the market.

Over the past four days, more than $4.5 billion in long positions have been liquidated across crypto, making it the seventh largest liquidation event in crypto history.

Bitcoin, ETH and $XRP See Sharp Drops

At first, Bitcoin’s rally from $63,600 to $79,500 triggered around $2.7 billion in short liquidations. However, the trend reversed on August 22, putting heavily leveraged long positions under pressure.

Bitcoin fell to around $76,500 within six minutes, while long positions worth about $257.77 million were liquidated.

Ethereum also faced heavy selling, recording around $293.34 million in liquidations as its price dropped to about $2,426.

$XRP saw the sharpest price decline among the three, falling about 12% from $1.70 to $1.51. The move led to around $121.71 million in $XRP liquidations.

Altcoins Lose $53 Billion in Minutes

It’s not just Bitcoin or Ethereum, altcoins also saw massive liquidations. The TOTAL3 market cap, which tracks crypto excluding Bitcoin and Ethereum, fell from $784 billion to $731 billion in a single candle.

That means around $53 billion was wiped out in just minutes, a decline of about 6.7%. Bitcoin, meanwhile, fell roughly 2.5% during the same move.

$70,500 Becomes Bitcoin’s Key Support

Despite the recent drop, crypto analyst The Martini Guy believes Bitcoin’s overall uptrend is still intact. He pointed to $70,500 as the key support level after $BTC moved from weeks of trading near $65,000 to breaking above $67,200 and then $70,500.

Bitcoin has pulled back slightly after breaking through $78K, but the bigger picture remains very strong.

We spent weeks trading between $63K and $65K.

Then $67.2K broke.

Then $70.5K broke.

Now we're sitting around $77.5K.

The level I'm watching most closely now is $70,500.… pic.twitter.com/169FraFB2Q

— That Martini Guy ₿ (@MartiniGuyYT) August 22, 2026

Bitcoin’s recent high near $78,800 is now the main resistance level. If $BTC stays above $70,500, the analyst believes the broader recovery could continue despite the recent market liquidations.

However, losing this support could weaken the current bullish setup and increase the risk of another decline.

coinpedia.org