Global cryptocurrency markets experienced their largest-ever single-day drop overnight into Monday, with over $2.24 billion in liquidated positions, according to Coinglass, a platform tracking transactions across major exchanges. The unprecedented sell-off wiped out thousands of traders, signaling heightened volatility in the digital asset space.
More than 730,000 traders faced liquidations, with Binance accounting for nearly 37% of all forced closures due to its vast user base. Other exchanges affected included OKX, Bybit, Gate.IO, and HTX. Liquidation occurs when a trader’s position is forcibly closed due to insufficient funds to maintain it, typically following a margin call.
The market turbulence has been attributed to the new tariff policies introduced by former U.S. President Donald Trump, which include levies on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China. Reports suggest that Trump’s threats to extend tariffs to the EU and UK triggered a widespread sell-off in risk assets, leading to cascading liquidations in the crypto sector.
The price of major cryptocurrencies plummeted, with Ether (ETH) suffering the sharpest drop—nosediving 20% to $2,520 before recovering slightly to $2,611. Bitcoin (BTC) lost 6.5%, briefly dipping to $92,500 before rebounding to $95,484. Other leading digital assets, such as Cardano (ADA) and Ripple (XRP), fell 19% and 16%, respectively.
As a result of the massive sell-off, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization shrank by nearly 9%, falling to $3.24 trillion, according to CoinGecko, which tracks 17,047 cryptocurrencies. The 24-hour trading volume surged to $401 billion, reflecting the intensity of the market turmoil.
