More than $635 billion has been wiped from the crypto market in less than a month as another wave of forced selling hit leveraged traders and pushed major assets deeper into risk-off mode.
Total crypto market capitalization is now near $2.24 trillion, with Bitcoin dominance around 56% and stablecoins taking a larger share of market value as traders move out of volatile assets. Live liquidation data still showed more than $639 million in forced closures over 24 hours, with long positions carrying most of the damage after a one-hour liquidation burst was flagged above $500 million during the selloff.
The latest move extends the pressure that pushed Bitcoin toward $61,000 and turned the broader market into a liquidity test. BTC is trading near $62,800, still close to its intraday low near $61,400 and roughly 50% below its all-time high. The market now needs more than a small bounce. It needs real spot demand, ETF stabilization and lower leverage before traders can trust any recovery attempt.
Longs Get Crushed As Leverage Unwinds
The liquidation wave shows how crowded bullish positioning had become even after several days of weakness. When Bitcoin failed to reclaim the mid-$60,000 area, forced selling moved through perpetual futures markets and hit Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Cardano and other large-cap assets.
Ethereum is trading near $1,680 after losing the $1,825 support zone, leaving $1,600 and $1,400 in focus if sellers keep control. Solana is near $66, with network fundamentals still stronger than price action but public treasury stress adding pressure. Cardano is near $0.164 after a double-digit daily drop, while Zcash remains one of the most volatile large assets after the Orchard flaw triggered a severe privacy-coin reset.
XRP has held up better than the weakest large-cap altcoins, trading near $1.14 after slipping from an intraday high around $1.18 to a low near $1.10. That relative resilience matters, but it does not remove broader market risk. XRP still depends on whether Bitcoin can hold support and whether liquidity returns to large-cap altcoins after the liquidation flush.
Leverage is now the main accelerant. Spot selling starts the move, but forced closures deepen it. Long liquidations turn falling prices into automatic sell pressure, which pushes prices lower again and triggers the next wave of liquidations. That feedback loop is why crypto drawdowns often move faster than traditional markets during weak liquidity periods.
Bitcoin ETF Damage Still Matters
The broader market is still digesting the damage from spot Bitcoin ETF outflows. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recently suffered a record 13-day outflow streak, with roughly $4.33 billion leaving the products between May 15 and June 3. A tiny inflow after the streak did not repair the market because the earlier redemptions had already removed one of Bitcoin’s strongest passive demand channels.
That ETF pressure matters for altcoins too. When BTC loses ETF demand, traders reduce risk across the whole market. Ethereum weakens, Solana fails to trade on strong app revenue, XRP loses momentum with the rest of the large-cap basket, ADA slides into deeper cycle pressure, and high-beta sectors become harder to defend.
The latest Bitcoin decline follows yesterday’s 50% all-time-high drawdown, which turned the selloff into a psychological test as much as a technical one. The market is no longer treating the move as a simple pullback. It is testing whether the post-ETF cycle has enough fresh capital to absorb forced selling.
XRP Holds Better, But Liquidity Is Still Thin
XRP’s smaller daily decline stands out because several other large-cap assets are seeing deeper losses. The token remains above the $1 level, which is the first psychological area traders are watching if the selloff continues.
That does not make XRP immune. During broad liquidation events, relative strength can disappear quickly if Bitcoin breaks support or if market makers reduce exposure across major altcoins. XRP needs to hold the $1.10 to $1.00 area to keep its structure from turning into the same kind of deeper drawdown already visible in ADA and ZEC.
The stronger XRP case would require more than holding a round number. It needs better spot demand, stronger derivatives positioning, and a market where traders are willing to rotate into large-cap altcoins again. Until Bitcoin stabilizes, XRP’s relative strength is useful but fragile.
Zcash Remains The Day’s Panic Trade
Zcash is still carrying one of the heaviest moves in the market. ZEC is trading near $350 after falling as low as $261 during the day, with the crash tied to the Orchard privacy flaw and the confidence shock that followed.
Zcash already patched the issue, but the market is still reacting to the gap between a fixed vulnerability and the harder question of proving prior non-exploitation inside a shielded pool. The earlier Zcash Orchard breakdown has now turned into a broader market reset, with the drawdown stretching far beyond the first 35% move.
Arthur Hayes’ exit added more pressure after he sold his ZEC bag, while whale losses amplified the fear after one large holder was marked down by about $70 million in a day.
Crypto Needs Liquidity, Not Narratives
The crypto market has already lost more than $2 trillion since the October 2025 peak. The latest $635 billion monthly wipeout shows that the drawdown is still active, not historical.
Narratives are still alive in pockets of the market. Hyperliquid continues to show real revenue strength, Solana apps are still generating fees, XRP is holding better than some high-beta majors, and RWA/tokenized equity products keep expanding. But broad liquidity is not rewarding those stories while Bitcoin remains pinned near support and leverage keeps getting flushed.
The next market test is now clear. BTC needs to hold the $61,000 to $60,000 zone, ETF flows need to stop bleeding, and liquidation pressure needs to cool before traders can trust a rebound. Without that repair, crypto remains vulnerable to another sweep toward lower Bitcoin support and deeper altcoin losses.
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