Leverage Unwind Leaves Bulls With 89% of $774M Crypto Liquidation Bill

A $774.14 million crypto liquidation wave swept the market in the past 24 hours, and leveraged bulls were hit the hardest, absorbing $688.56 million in losses.

Those traders ended up on the losing side of the downturn as macroeconomic and geopolitical concerns weighed on markets and a sharp stock slide across Asia added to the strain.

Ethereum Long Positions Bore the Heaviest Liquidation Losses

According to BeInCrypto Markets data, the aggregate value of cryptocurrencies fell 4.40% to $2.77 trillion in the past 24 hours. The price of Bitcoin (BTC) was down 2.67% at $81,594; Ethereum (ETH) gave up 4.46% and was last at $2,429.16.

Altcoin losses were steeper: Solana (SOL) traded 7.11% lower at $103.62, and Zcash (ZEC) was 9.54% off.

CoinGlass counted 172,662 liquidated traders; 88.9% of the total were long positions, while shorts made up $85.58 million.

Ethereum saw the heaviest liquidations at $169.23 million, with 86.3% of that from longs. Bitcoin followed at $160.48 million, 90.2% of it long, and Solana's $60.41 million of liquidations was 94.2% long.

One Binance order stood out as the biggest of the lot: a $9.65 million BTCUSDT long liquidated at $81,772.75. The exchange processed 51.9% of all liquidations.

The pain was concentrated among longs; traders on the short side, by contrast, enjoyed some wins. Lookonchain, a blockchain analytics account, flagged AguilaTrades — whose losses total $38 million — for opening a 40x short on 124.24 BTC.

AguilaTrades(@AguilaTrades), who has lost a total of $38M, is back again!

4 hours ago, he opened a 40x short on 124.24 $BTC ($10.14M) and is already up $165K in unrealized profit.

Liquidation price: $83,432.22https://t.co/3KebVFQ2Rw

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 13, 2026

What Was Behind the Crypto Slide?

The selloff unfolded alongside an escalation of the Middle East conflict. At least 20 people, including a US national, have been killed by Houthi attacks on Saudi airports within a week, according to CBS.

President Donald Trump has said Washington could join Saudi Arabia's campaign against the Houthis in Yemen.

Inflation concerns also weighed on sentiment. Treasury yields are hovering near 24-year highs, making bonds more attractive than assets that generate no yield.

There was also heavy pressure across Asian markets. South Korea's KOSPI lost nearly 5% on Tuesday, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix sliding.

Tom Lee, chair of Ethereum treasury firm BitMine, tied the Korean slump to crypto's losses.

This major decline in Korean equities likely spilling over into crypto

– margin liquidations in brokerage
– Koreans major holders of crypto

Short term pain $ETH https://t.co/Pe6bWrCBun

— Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com (@fundstrat) October 13, 2026

Could CPI Determine What Comes Next?

The next catalyst arrives Wednesday with the US September Consumer Price Index (CPI) report. Economists project annual inflation climbing to 3.7% from 3.4%.

A hotter result could harden rate-increase bets and bring more selling pressure, while a cooler CPI print might relax those pressures.

Since long positions have taken on almost 89% of the losses, the CPI numbers could determine whether leveraged bulls rebuild or fall back further.