Over the past 24 hours, roughly $483 million in bitcoin and ether futures contracts were liquidated as cryptocurrency prices declined on Thursday, with ether traders experiencing the biggest losses.
Losses deepened Thursday morning amid uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve’s upcoming interest‑rate decision. Bitcoin hovered near $81,000, down about 3% over the day, while ether slipped more than 6% to roughly $2,350. XRP and Solana’s SOL each fell around 5%, and dogecoin dropped approximately 6%.
According to CoinGlass data gathered during Asian morning trading, ether contracts represented roughly $286 million of the liquidations, versus $197 million for bitcoin. Ether declined about 6.4% to $2,356, and bitcoin fell approximately 3.2% to trade near $81,000.
Liquidations occur when traders employ leverage and an adverse price shift erodes their collateral below the required threshold, prompting the exchange to automatically close the position. For instance, a trader using $1,000 to control a $10,000 stake could lose the entire margin on a price move of under 10% in the opposite direction.
Such forced exits can intensify selling pressure in a declining market, compelling traders to leave their positions even if they had no intention to sell at that level.
