The cryptocurrency market faced a significant liquidation event overnight on October 15, marking the largest wave of forced liquidations since August. According to CoinGlass, the total liquidation volume reached $939.30 million, with long positions accounting for $791.62 million (84.3%) of the losses. The sharp price drop triggered a massive unloading of speculative positions in the derivatives market.
The hardest hit were Ethereum ($286.11 million) and Bitcoin ($215.49 million). The largest single liquidation involved a long position on the BTC-USDT pair on Binance worth $12.03 million at a price of $80,208.96. Binance alone accounted for 52.3% of the total liquidated orders.
Altcoins with high retail participation also saw significant liquidations, including $12.82 million in XRP, $12.32 million in NEAR Protocol, and $12.18 million in Dogecoin. This correction marked the first deep shake-up in the altcoin market after a period of prolonged growth.
Despite the severity of the liquidations, the technical outlook suggests a controlled market cleansing rather than a trend reversal. Bitcoin tested and held above the $80,000 psychological mark, with strong buying support around the 50-day moving average at $81,000. The subsequent short squeeze led to a sharp upward correction, causing significant losses for short sellers.
In just one hour, Bitcoin short sellers lost $15.94 million, while Ethereum short sellers lost $19.41 million. Short positions on NEAR and Dogecoin also suffered immediate wipeouts. Currently, funding rates for key perpetual futures remain stable, indicating persistent mid-term optimism among market participants.