The Crypto Market Under Pressure: $19 Billion in Liquidations After the New US-China Trade War
A record wave of liquidations, driven by macro events and unexpected political turbulence, has shocked the cryptocurrency market. Over the past 24 hours, positions worth more than $19 billion have been liquidated, marking the highest figure ever recorded for the sector.
At the heart of this turbulence are major exchanges, global hedge funds and millions of private traders most of whom were unprepared for such a sharp collapse.
Just a few days ago, the market was showing absolute optimism. Bitcoin set a new all-time high, surpassing $125,000.This marked the culmination of months of growth, fueled by expectations of regulatory liberalization, an influx of institutional investment and a fresh wave of market optimism.
The sharp drop began immediately after US President Donald Trump’s public announcement of additional 100% tariffs on China and new restrictions on software exports. “An updated trade war broke out between China and the United States on Friday, leading to a reduction of positions in risky assets,” explained Ravi Doshi, co-head of markets at FalconX.
According to Coinglass, over the past 24 hours, positions worth more than $19 billion have been liquidated. In some hours, this figure reached $7 billion in liquidations per hour. During this period, more than 1.6 million orders were closed a record wave of forced closures. Market participants note that the real figure could be even higher, since not all exchanges report such data in real time.
Major Exchanges and the Scale of the Effect
The biggest losses were recorded on the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, where at certain moments up to one liquidation order was registered every second. The scale of the effect is underlined by an assessment from Multicoin Capital’s chief trader Brian Strugats: “The focus now is on counterparty risk and the potential for broader market crisis effects.”
Bitcoin Price: From Record High to Shock
After the tariff announcement, bitcoin’s price fell by more than 12% from a record $125,000 to around $118,000-$120,000 on various trading platforms. Some sources mention a drop to about $113,000, but most analysts recorded a drop to $118,000-$120,000 during the market’s most “volatile” hours.
The Deribit platform registered the highest volume of put options precisely at the $110,000 and $100,000 levels, adding extra pressure on the price during the decline. Caroline Moron, co-founder of Orbit Markets, noted: the $100,000 level could become critical support, and a drop below that mark would signal the end of a three-year bull cycle.
Stock and Commodity Markets: The Domino Effect
The fall in the crypto market was accompanied by a slump on stock exchanges and in the commodity sector. Against the background of tough rhetoric between the US and China, investors were massively exiting risky assets. In this period, “safe havens” became gold and US government bonds.
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What This Shock Means for the Crypto Market
Liquidations are forced closures of leveraged positions during sharp price movements. They became the “cascade” factor in the large-scale collapse, greatly amplifying the pressure on the sector as a whole. Mass liquidations trigger a domino effect when the fall of one price leads to the automatic closure of new positions, rapidly increasing volatility.
After such a record shock, new tension has emerged on the market now the main focus is on the resilience of key platforms and the risks of the crisis spreading beyond the crypto sector.
Brian Strugats, chief trader at Multicoin Capital, emphasized: “The focus now is on counterparty risk and the potential for broader market crisis effects.”
Recent events have clearly demonstrated that the cryptocurrency market is extremely sensitive to macroeconomic and political developments. Even a single statement by a world leader or an unexpected shift in trade policy can trigger a chain reaction whose consequences are hard to predict.
Right now, the key issue for investors and the market is not just bitcoin’s price, but whether exchanges and key players can withstand new waves of volatility and whether this shock will become the start of broader financial turbulence.
The market’s attention is focused on risk and resilience and this will be decisive for the future of cryptocurrencies in the coming months.
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