Crypto Market Plunges $19B in Record Liquidation Event

The crypto market collapse began Friday morning following a threat from U.S. President Donald Trump to impose “massive” new trade tariffs on China, causing cryptocurrency prices to plunge alongside traditional stocks as investors reacted to the escalating geopolitical tensions. The situation deteriorated rapidly in the afternoon when Trump amplified his threats in a follow-up post on Truth Social, sending most crypto assets into freefall and triggering what would become the largest liquidation event in cryptocurrency history.

According to data from CoinGecko, Bitcoin had been trading comfortably above the $121,000 mark on Friday morning but ultimately dipped below $106,000 in the afternoon, representing a dramatic 12% decline. The sell-off accelerated throughout the day as Trump’s rhetoric intensified, creating widespread concern among investors about potential economic repercussions from heightened trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

While Bitcoin suffered significant losses, alternative cryptocurrencies experienced even more severe declines. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, dropped from $4,300 on Friday morning to a multi-month low under $3,600 in the afternoon. Major altcoins like Dogecoin and Cardano briefly showed 40% daily dips before recovering some of their losses, demonstrating the extreme volatility that characterized the trading session.

The damage extended throughout the cryptocurrency ecosystem, with top 100 coins by market cap like Story (IP) and Worldcoin (WORLD) experiencing particularly brutal declines. At one point, both assets were down more than 50% in a single hour, highlighting how smaller market cap cryptocurrencies faced amplified selling pressure compared to their larger counterparts. The widespread nature of the declines suggested a market-wide risk-off sentiment rather than isolated weakness in specific sectors.

According to data from CoinGlass, the market carnage generated more than $19 billion worth of liquidations in 24 hours—by far the largest liquidation event in cryptocurrency history. The platform reported that 1,618,240 traders were liquidated during this period, with the vast majority being long positions, or bets that asset prices would increase. Nearly $17 billion worth of long positions were wiped out as prices moved sharply against bullish traders.

The scale of Friday’s liquidations dwarfed previous major market events that industry experts had considered “black swan” occurrences. The 2020 market reaction to COVID-19 shutdowns generated approximately $1.2 billion in liquidations, while the 2022 collapse of crypto exchange FTX triggered about $1.6 billion in liquidations. Friday’s total represented a more than 10x multiple of both figures, underscoring both the significant growth across crypto markets in recent years and the substantial risk appetite that had developed as top assets reached record high prices.

CoinGlass noted on social media platform X that the $19 billion total might significantly understate the actual damage, citing data reporting limitations. “The actual total is likely much higher—Binance only reports one liquidation order per second,” the platform wrote, suggesting the true scale of the liquidation event could be substantially larger than the already record-breaking figure.

Top cryptocurrency assets have recovered some ground since hitting their Friday lows, though they remain well below their recent price levels. As of the latest data, Bitcoin was trading just above $112,000, representing a nearly 8% daily decline, while Ethereum showed a 12% daily loss at $3,816. XRP experienced a 13% drop to $2.45, reflecting the broad-based nature of the market weakness.

Among the top 10 assets by market capitalization, Dogecoin took the biggest hit, falling 24% over the last day to $0.19, while Solana nursed an 18% decline to $183. Market participants expect continued volatility through the weekend, with prediction platform Myriad indicating a 56% chance that Bitcoin sees more red candles than green before Monday arrives. This sentiment reflects ongoing uncertainty about market direction following the historic sell-off and suggests traders remain cautious about further downside risk.