$18.38M Crypto Liquidations Skew Short as Market Rebound Triggers Squeeze

Roughly $18.38 million in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated over the past four hours, with data showing a decisive skew toward short-side losses—an early sign that the market’s latest bounce has forced bearish traders to unwind risk.

According to CoinGlass, short liquidations totaled about $13.67 million versus $4.72 million in longs, meaning shorts accounted for 74.35% of the wipeout. The imbalance typically appears when prices rebound quickly enough to trigger cascading margin calls for traders positioned for downside, a dynamic often associated with a ‘short squeeze’ in derivatives-heavy markets.

Exchange-level figures highlight where the pressure was concentrated. Binance led the liquidation board with approximately $9.10 million—49.49% of the total—of which $6.48 million (71.25%) came from shorts. Bybit followed with about $2.21 million in liquidations, again dominated by shorts at 76.93%. Gate posted roughly $2.03 million and OKX about $1.95 million.

Two venues stood out for the extremes of positioning. CoinGlass data showed Aster and Hyperliquid registering short liquidation ratios of 95.69% and 96.07%, respectively, suggesting that certain cohorts in those derivatives markets were heavily tilted toward downside bets and were caught offside by the rebound. In contrast, HTX and CoinEx showed a higher share of long liquidations, underscoring how positioning can differ materially from one exchange to another depending on client mix and available products.

Liquidation heatmaps by asset pointed to outsized churn in major tokens, with Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) drawing the largest forced closures. CoinGlass data showed ETH leading the period’s liquidation totals, followed by BTC, while Solana (SOL) and a basket of other altcoins trailed behind.

Price action and liquidation patterns were not fully aligned across the two largest assets, hinting at divergent short-term flows. Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) rose about 0.7% to $107,824.90, alongside liquidations that included roughly $6.07 million in longs and $2.69 million in shorts. Ethereum (ETH), however, slipped about 0.8% to $2,089.95 even as long liquidations were heavily concentrated—around $6.15 million in longs versus roughly $48,490 in shorts—an imbalance that suggests leveraged dip-buying was punished despite the broader rebound narrative elsewhere in the market.

Among major altcoins, the liquidation tape leaned more clearly toward short-covering. Solana (SOL) posted more shorts than longs liquidated over 24 hours, while XRP, Cardano (ADA), and Chainlink (LINK) also saw short liquidations outpace longs—consistent with traders being forced out of bearish positions as prices stabilized or moved higher intraday. Dogecoin (DOGE) was notable for a more pronounced squeeze-like profile: while the token was up around 0.4% over 24 hours, short liquidations reached roughly $61,180 versus about $7,810 in longs, a pattern often seen when meme-linked assets snap higher and amplify liquidation-driven momentum.

Other names attracting attention in the same window included HYPE and KAIA, where short liquidations were comparatively elevated versus longs, reflecting how quickly sentiment can flip in thinner books or more retail-sensitive tokens.

Overall, the latest wave of forced closures reinforces that the current move has been more painful for bears than bulls, at least on a market-wide basis. Still, ETH’s long-heavy liquidation profile despite a softer price underscores that this is not a uniform rally and that positioning is fragmenting by asset. In crypto derivatives, liquidations occur when leveraged traders fail to meet margin requirements and positions are automatically closed—often exacerbating volatility during fast moves.