Crypto Liquidation Spree Nears $1B, Long Traders Hit Hardest

Leveraged crypto positions worth $942.1 million were wiped out in 24 hours, according to Coinglass data. Longs made up $863.3 million, or 91.6%, of the total.

The broader market's decline accompanied the wipeout. BeInCrypto Markets data shows total crypto market cap slid 4.96% in 24 hours, landing at $2.76 trillion.

Ethereum Longs Led Losses in the Crypto Liquidation Wave

Ethereum (ETH) slid 5.31% over the past 24 hours to trade at $2,373.87. It was the sharpest drop among the five biggest cryptocurrencies by market value. Bitcoin (BTC) lost 2.54% over the same stretch, changing hands at $81,328.

Ethereum also led the liquidation rankings. ETH positions accounted for $283.1 million in losses, with more than $261 million tied to long contracts.

BTC was next at $196 million, roughly $176 million of it from long positions.

A large portion of the selling was compressed into a short window. Coinglass logged $489.4 million of liquidations in the latest hour, more than half the full-day figure.

Binance processed 53.7% of all liquidations. The exchange also handled the biggest single order: a $12.03 million BTCUSDT long that closed at $80,208.96.

Traditional-market contracts were caught up as well. Silver (XAG) positions on crypto exchanges lost $22.1 million, while gold (XAU) contracts shed $13.3 million.

Seoul, Tokyo Slid Alongside Crypto as Chip Stocks Cracked

The downturn spread to Asian equity markets on Thursday. By late morning, South Korea's KOSPI had fallen 7.85% to 5,537.15. Japan's Nikkei 225 retreated 4.81% to 64,489.06.

Chip stocks drove the slide in both markets. The drop was traced to Wednesday's hotter-than-expected US inflation report. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) advanced 3.7% in the 12 months through September, BeInCrypto reported.

That was up from 3.4% in August. Excluding food and energy, core CPI rose to 2.6% from 2.4%. Thursday's declines compounded the pressure that had weighed on Asian markets earlier this week.

The Federal Reserve's next meeting is set for October 27-28. The outcome will indicate whether the September inflation surge is enough to warrant another rate hike.

Yet traders do not have such a move priced in; CME FedWatch assigns a 24.9% likelihood to an October hike.