The sharp decline in the cryptocurrency market over the past day has triggered a historic wave of futures position liquidations. The total market capitalization has decreased by more than 9%.
This is reported by Finway
Reasons for the Collapse and US Actions
On the evening of October 10, there was a sudden drop in most cryptocurrencies, leading to the liquidation of futures positions amounting to over $19 billion in a single day. This is the highest figure in the history of the crypto market, according to Coinglass. The primary trigger for the collapse was the announcement by US President Donald Trump of a 100% tariff on Chinese goods, in addition to the existing tariffs. Trump also announced possible export restrictions on “critical software” from the US. According to his statement, the new tariffs could take effect “on November 1 or earlier.”
He explained that this decision was a response to the initiative by the People’s Republic of China to impose extensive export restrictions on most goods produced in China.
On the eve of this announcement, China intensified its control over the export of rare earth metals—elements necessary for the production of chips and high-tech equipment. This further exacerbated trade relations between the two countries.
Massive Market Drop and Historic Liquidation Volume
In light of the news, financial markets reacted with a significant decline. The S&P 500 index fell by 2.7%, the Dow Jones by 1.9%, and the Nasdaq by nearly 3.6%. Cryptocurrencies experienced an even sharper decline: Bitcoin briefly fell to $102,000. Meanwhile, altcoins lost up to 50% in value, with some dropping by as much as 70%. Ethereum plummeted to $3,700, representing a 14% decrease in a day, while Solana fell below $175.
As of the time of this report, some assets had partially recovered their positions, but the market remains under pressure. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap, decreased by nearly 10% in a day.
Liquidations reached record levels. According to Coinglass, over 1.6 million traders were forced to close positions totaling over $19 billion, with more than $16 billion attributed to long positions. The largest share of liquidations was recorded on Hyperliquid—$10.3 billion—while the largest single liquidation exceeded $203 million. Experts emphasize that the actual volume of losses may be even higher, as not all exchanges provide real-time data on such transactions. For example, Binance records only one liquidation order per second.
“The largest liquidation event in crypto history. In the past 24 hours, 1,618,240 traders were liquidated, with a total liquidation amount of $19.13 billion. The actual total is likely much higher — Binance only reports one liquidation order per second.”
As a result of the high load, exchanges also faced operational disruptions, which they warned users about.
The Fear and Greed Index in the cryptocurrency market has dropped to 35 points, indicating a dominance of fear among market participants.
