Crypto Market Suffers 7th Largest Liquidation Event in History, Bitcoin Surges
The crypto market witnessed one of its most severe liquidation events in history on August 20, with $3.5 billion in leveraged positions liquidated within a 24-hour period.
At the peak of this move, over $1 billion in short positions were liquidated in just sixty minutes, with the total eventually reaching $3 billion. For comparison, only $264 million in long positions were liquidated during the same timeframe, according to August 21 CoinGlass data.
The market's recovery was particularly notable for Bitcoin (BTC), which rose 8% to reclaim $71,300, a level not seen since June. Ethereum (ETH) also saw significant gains, increasing by nearly 20% on the day, with around $1.16 billion in liquidations.
The average hourly market cap gain of over $12 billion for 24 consecutive hours was another striking aspect of this event. Binance recorded approximately $518 million in liquidations, followed closely by Hyperliquid at roughly $513 million, and Bybit at around $303 million.