Over $627M in Crypto Liquidations in Hour as Bitcoin Falls on Binance Hack Fears

Late Thursday, a single hour saw $627.7 million in crypto liquidations, with $606.6 million coming from long positions, according to Coinglass data. Bitcoin (BTC) dropped below $79,000 and Ethereum (ETH) slipped under $2,240 after a $2 billion outflow from Binance hot wallets prompted a market reaction.

No hack has been confirmed, and Binance has not issued a statement. Leveraged traders bore the losses as the market priced in a worst-case scenario before any facts were established.

How Fast the Selling Hit

At 20:00 UTC, Bitcoin was trading near $80,800 on Binance, according to TradingView. By 20:35 UTC, it had plunged to roughly $78,300—a drop of about 3% in a single price candle—before rebounding above $79,100.

Ethereum fared worse, sliding from roughly $2,335 to a low of $2,233, a decline of more than 4%, before recovering to around $2,263.

The timing aligns with on-chain activity. The first transfer from the Binance 14 wallet occurred at 20:24 UTC, with the most severe price moves occurring within the next 15 minutes.

Who Lost Money

A liquidation occurs when a trader borrows to amplify a position and the price moves far enough against them that the exchange closes the position forcibly.

Coinglass recorded $189.1 million in Bitcoin positions and $156.8 million in Ethereum positions wiped out in the hour, with Solana (SOL) a distant third at $46.8 million.

Short sellers, who profit from falling prices, lost only $21.1 million. The single largest forced closure was an $11.09 million Bitcoin long on Binance at $79,254.

Binance itself accounted for $344.8 million of the hour's liquidations, more than half the total. Hyperliquid followed with $97 million and Bybit with $77.3 million.

That is three times the $200 million unwind that drove Bitcoin below $80,000 last Saturday. Over 24 hours, Coinglass counts 161,647 traders liquidated for $951.2 million, with two-thirds of that damage occurring in the final hour.

Why the Market Sold First

Bitcoin was already fragile. It had failed to hold $83,000 last week, and analyst Benjamin Cowen's bearish Q4 roadmap had traders watching $80,000 as the key level.

A breach at Binance, the largest exchange by volume, would also carry a different risk from a DeFi exploit. Stolen exchange funds tend to be sold, and any fresh movement from the receiving addresses can move prices again until Binance explains the transfer.