TLDR
- Crypto markets saw about $1.19 billion in liquidations over 24 hours, with more than $1 billion coming from bullish bets.
- Ether traders lost about $356 million, more than bitcoin’s $298 million, even though ether’s market value is a fraction of bitcoin’s size.
- Bitcoin fell from about $83,200 to roughly $80,400 before recovering to about $82,200.
- Fed rate hike expectations and Iran war fears added pressure, along with a researcher’s AI security warning.
- Short term bitcoin holders sent over 50,000 coins to exchanges, with close to 60% moved at a loss.
Crypto markets lost over $1 billion in liquidations over 24 hours this week. Ether traders were hit harder than bitcoin traders, even though ether’s market is much smaller.
🚨BREAKING: Over $1 BILLION in crypto positions liquidated in 24 hours, with ETH hit harder than Bitcoin.
Bets on higher prices made up $1.05 BILLION of the $1.19 BILLION total, per CoinGlass.
ETH liquidations reached $350 MILLION, more than Bitcoin’s $304 MILLION.
ETH is down… pic.twitter.com/6CaaL1CvHe
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) October 8, 2026
Ether positions worth about $356 million were liquidated. Bitcoin positions came in at $298 million.
Bitcoin’s market value is more than five times larger than ether’s. That made the liquidation gap stand out.
Measured against market size, ether absorbed about six times the damage bitcoin did. Its liquidations worked out to roughly $1.2 million for every $1 billion in market value, compared with about $180,000 for bitcoin.
Ether fell more than 3% to around $2,490. Bitcoin dropped about 1%.
What triggered the selloff
Bitcoin slid from about $83,200 to roughly $80,400 late Thursday. Federal Reserve minutes showed most officials expected another rate hike before the end of the year.
Why is the crypto market dumping?
$200 Billion wiped out from crypto in the last 48 hours as $BTC dropped below $81,000 and $ETH dropped below $2,450, causing $1.4 Billion in long liquidations.
Key reasons:
1. President Trump said he may restart attacks on Iran.
2. Top… pic.twitter.com/9XzbWUN4zV
— Ash Crypto (@AshCrypto) October 8, 2026
A report said the Pentagon was preparing for renewed combat in Iran. That pushed oil prices higher and added pressure on riskier assets.
Ethereum researcher Justin Drake added to the unease. He warned that artificial intelligence could break the math protecting crypto wallets sooner than expected.
Traders had built up leverage all week as bitcoin traded between $83,000 and $87,000. That left many positions exposed once the range broke.
Across the wider market, $1.19 billion was liquidated in 24 hours. Over $1 billion of that came from traders betting on higher prices.
The largest single liquidation was a nearly $20 million ether position on Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange for leveraged trading.
Other tokens took losses too. Solana bets lost $71 million, XRP lost $34 million and NEAR lost $25 million.
Bitcoin’s buy wall faces a test
A day earlier, bitcoin had already fallen to about $80,744. The market saw $1.16 billion liquidated at that point, according to separate data.
Short term bitcoin holders sent more than 50,000 coins to exchanges during that stretch. Close to 60% of it moved at a loss.
Analytics firm Glassnode pointed to a cluster of buy orders between $81,000 and $81,250 on Binance. It called that a key support zone for bitcoin.
Glassnode also flagged a cluster of possible liquidation levels between $81,700 and $83,300, with another cluster near $75,000.
Shorts are now paying the price for the bounce back. Bitcoin recovered to about $82,200 after President Trump said the United States would not strike Iran before the midterms.
About 78% of roughly $25 million liquidated in the four hours after that statement came from traders betting on further declines.
The timing lines up closely with the one year anniversary of Oct. 10, 2025. A record $19 billion was liquidated that day, about 16 times Thursday’s total.
Bitcoin now sits about $800 below the $83,000 level where Thursday’s selling began.
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