$670 million in short liquidations mark year's largest wipeout, with altcoins driving weekend volatility
Quick Take
- The surge in short liquidations was driven by significant increases in the price of BTC, ETH, and altcoins amid talks between the U.S. and China to resolve the trade war.
- The following is an excerpt from The Block’s Data and Insights newsletter.
The crypto market saw its largest single-day short liquidation event of the year on Thursday, May 8, with more than $670 million in positions wiped out. Bybit accounted for the largest share, at $290.8 million, or 43.4% of the total, followed by Binance with 26.5%.
Elevated short liquidations persisted in the days that followed and extended through the weekend. Friday recorded $301 million in short liquidations, followed by $233 million on Saturday.
Bitcoin short liquidations made up $394 million of Thursday’s total. However, BTC-related liquidations dropped off sharply to $42 million on Friday and $57 million on Saturday. Altcoins, by contrast, made up 41% of Thursday’s liquidations, surging to 86% on Friday and 75% on Saturday.
In other words, over this three-day stretch, especially during the weekend, most liquidations were concentrated in altcoins.
The surge in short liquidations was driven by significant increases in the price of BTC, ETH, and altcoins due to the official talks between the U.S. and China to resolve the trade war.
On the day, BTC rose by roughly 6.4%, while ETH jumped by around 22%. Meanwhile, TOTAL3 also climbed by more than 7%. On Friday, BTC actually dipped by 0.28%, while ETH rallied nearly 13% at its daily high, and TOTAL3 rose 4.7% at its peak. Saturday saw BTC increase by 1.8%, while ETH and TOTAL3 continued their momentum, rising by 10% and 4%, respectively.
These price movements explain the altcoin-heavy liquidation patterns seen on Friday and Saturday. Another likely factor behind the altcoin-driven liquidations over the weekend was the explosive rallies and short squeezes in specific memecoins with perpetual contracts listed on major exchanges. More specifically, MOODENG and PNUT, which have perpetual contracts on Binance and Bybit, have surged by 570% and 180%, respectively, since Thursday at the time of writing.
Editor's note: The liquidation figures reported in our articles are based on publicly available data, which may understate the true extent of market liquidations. In many cases, API limits and incomplete reporting practices result in only a fraction of actual liquidation activity being captured by data aggregators
This is an excerpt from The Block's Data & Insights newsletter. Dig into the numbers making up the industry's most thought-provoking trends.
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