Nearly $3 billion in leveraged crypto positions vanished in a single day, catching more than 173,000 traders on the wrong side of the market. The overwhelming majority of that pain landed on short sellers, suggesting a violent upward move that punished anyone betting against the rally.
Over 173,000 crypto traders liquidated in 24 hours as $2.98B evaporates
Nearly $3 billion in leveraged crypto positions vanished in a single day, catching more than 173,000 traders on the wrong side of the market. The overwhelming majority of that pain landed on short sellers, suggesting a violent upward…
Crypto Briefing
Publisher
Aug 20, 2026 at 2:05 AM UTC · Updated hace 9 minutos · 1 min de lectura

Market Impact
BTC+7.43%$69,062
Last Updated
hace 9 minutos
CoinGlass data shows approximately 173,214 traders were liquidated over a 24-hour window, with total losses hitting roughly $2.98 billion. Of that figure, a staggering $2.74 billion came from short positions, while longs accounted for a comparatively modest $242 million.
The numbers behind the wipeout
Shorts made up roughly 92% of all liquidated value, meaning bearish traders were overwhelmingly the ones getting margin-called. The single largest casualty was a $48.80 million BTC-USD position on Hyperliquid, the decentralized perpetual futures exchange.
Among centralized exchanges, Binance led the pack in a recent 4-hour snapshot with $16.44 million in liquidations. OKX followed at $6.17 million, with Gate.io rounding out the top three at $3.90 million. These figures represent just a narrow window, meaning the actual exchange-level totals over the full 24-hour period were substantially larger.
For context, the previous day saw roughly 63,222 traders liquidated with about $196 million wiped out. So the jump from $196 million to $2.98 billion in consecutive days represents a roughly 15x increase in liquidation volume.
Market Context
Bitcoin
BTC
$69,063
+7.43% (24H)
Market Cap
$1.38T
24H Volume
$41.6B
24H High
$70,002
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