A leveraged bitcoin trader lost $15.6 million in minutes

One trader had 201 BTC — valued at roughly $15.6 million — liquidated across eight back-to-back margin calls. The cascade was triggered as a steep Wall Street selloff shook digital asset markets.

The event illustrates how fast high leverage can destroy big holdings during sharp market moves.

A gambler just suffered a series of liquidations—getting liquidated 8 times for a total of 201 $BTC ($15.6M).

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) November 5, 2026

Eight margin calls drain a single trader of 201 BTC

A liquidation happens when an exchange shuts a leveraged trade because the margin is no longer sufficient to cover losses. These events tend to occur during sharp price swings.

Lookonchain identified a trader who went through eight forced liquidations amid the heavy selling wave. The result was the near-total loss of the account, worth $15.6 million.

The case points to the danger of high leverage on venues like Hyperliquid. On such platforms, a sudden price shift can set off a chain of automatic margin calls.

The wider damage was extensive. CoinGlass data showed 209,826 traders hit by liquidations over 24 hours, amounting to $1.08 billion.

Longs made up $956 million of that sum, representing 88% of all forced sales. Shorts represented just $130.78 million. Bitcoin led with $282.37 million in liquidations, while Ethereum followed at $173.75 million.

A striking point: 89.4% of the bitcoin liquidations were long positions.

Binance accounted for the biggest portion of all liquidations, at 44.3%.

Crypto market hitched to Wall Street's steep drop

The upheaval began on traditional exchanges. On November 5, the Nasdaq Composite fell by nearly 5% during the trading day, its worst showing in months.

AI and chip shares drove the downturn, with post-midterm uncertainty and questions about the AI rally weighing on markets. The S&P 500 dropped about 3.8% over the same period.

$3,000,000,000,000 has been erased from the US stock market today.

More than the GDP of Russia.

— Ted (@TedPillows) November 5, 2026

The selloff moved rapidly into crypto markets.

Bitcoin had shortly before climbed past $80,000 following the election. It then reversed quickly, falling to a low of $75,572.

Ethereum bottomed at $2,239 and Solana fell 5.9%. The biggest single forced sale was a $10.94 million ETH long trade on Binance.

“My thesis on #Bitcoin hasn’t changed… The past 24 hours have been heavily influenced by leverage trading… Now, $75,000 remains the best, obvious spot for longs, and it coincides with Nasdaq’s low, which has been targeted at 26,500…,” Michaël van de Poppe said on X.

Market sentiment has eased without breaking. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index sits at a neutral 50. This compares with 73 (greed) last month. Just a day prior, the measure had sunk to 34, a level indicating fear.

For now, the heavy concentration in long bets makes the market prone to more equity-driven disruptions. Traders are expected to watch Wall Street closely over the coming sessions.