Bitcoin, ether whipsaw wipes out $286 million in leveraged bets

Over the course of 24 hours ending July 30, 2026, nearly $286 million in crypto derivatives positions were liquidated despite bitcoin and ether prices remaining largely flat. Bitcoin traded around $63,900, fluctuating within a narrow range of roughly 2%, while ether declined modestly to about $1,900. The liquidations affected both long and short positions across major coins, with bitcoin seeing approximately $57 million and ether about $58 million in wiped-out bets. Longs accounted for $186 million of the total liquidations and shorts $100 million, reflecting a market marked by sharp price swings that ultimately returned prices to near starting levels.

The liquidations were particularly concentrated around the Federal Reserve's recent rate decision, which caused erratic price movements and triggered about $188 million in liquidations. Most of these, roughly $130 million, were on long positions. For example, bitcoin positions were nearly evenly split in liquidation losses between longs and shorts, with about $28 million and $29 million, respectively. The single largest liquidation recorded was a $2.9 million bitcoin bet on Binance. Ether liquidations were skewed more toward longs, with prices moving between $1,850 and $1,920 during this time.

In addition to crypto derivatives, equity perpetual futures on crypto exchanges also experienced heavy losses tied to the AI chip sector during a significant selloff. Trades on SanDisk, Micron, SK Hynix, and a leveraged semiconductor ETF called SOXL were liquidated for a combined total of approximately $43 million. These positions were almost exclusively long bets on the AI memory trade, which suffered as SK Hynix's stock fell 17% after disappointing profit expectations. This marked the second major event in the week where equity perpetuals on crypto venues caused substantial losses, with a related earlier incident involving SK Hynix contracts causing $60 million in liquidations.

The volatility and resulting liquidations illustrate how leveraged futures and derivatives can experience significant losses despite relatively flat underlying prices. The source highlights that even small but erratic price swings, such as those around the Fed meeting, can lead to substantial forced unwinds of positions as traders on both sides of the market are caught off guard. This dynamic underscores the risks involved in leveraged bets in both crypto and equity-linked instruments traded on crypto exchanges.