Bitcoin, ether whipsaw wipes out $286 million in leveraged bets

Updated Jul 30, 2026, 7:54 a.m. Published Jul 30, 2026, 6:59 a.m. 2 min readBitcoin, ether whipsaw wipes out $280 million even as prices remain flat over 24 hours. (Shutterstock)SummaryNearly $286 million in crypto derivatives positions were liquidated over 24 hours, even as bitcoin traded roughly flat around $63,900 and ether slipped modestly to $1,900.Liquidations were split between longs and shorts in major coins, with about $57 million in bitcoin and $58 million in ether positions wiped out amid price swings of less than 2%.Equity perpetuals on crypto exchanges saw heavy, mostly long-side losses tied to the AI chip trade, as leveraged bets on SanDisk, Micron, SK Hynix and a semiconductor ETF were hit by the sharpest chip selloff of the year.Major cryptocurrencies are unchanged over 24 hours. But masking the calm are erratic back-and-forth price swings around the Fed meeting that flushed out leveraged futures bets, triggering heavy liquidations.About $286 million in positions were liquidated across 87,294 traders in 24 hours, according to CoinGlass. Longs accounted for $186 million of the damage and shorts $100 million, the signature of a market that moved hard in both directions and settled back where it started.Bitcoin’s data show that both bulls and bears have borne the brunt of liquidations. Roughly $57 million in bitcoin positions were cleared, and the balance was nearly even, with about $28 million in longs against $29 million in shorts. The price swung between $63,247 and $64,660 during the window, a range of barely 2%, which was enough to clear traders positioned either way.The single biggest liquidation was a $2.9 million bitcoin position on Binance.Ether recorded the largest total at about $58 million, tilted toward longs, as prices ranged between $1,850 and $1,920. As of this writing, bitcoin BTC$63,913.58 traded at around $63,900, roughly where it was 24 hours ago. The same is true for ether (ETH), which traded at $1,900.The bulk of the damage happened around Wednesday’s Fed rate decision as the widely-watched event led to erratic price movements, triggering $188 million in liquidations, with longs alone accounting for $130 million of that tally.A more unusual wreckage was in equity futures listed on crypto exchanges. About $19 million in SanDisk positions were liquidated on crypto derivatives venues, along with $10 million in Micron, $7 million in SK Hynix and $7 million in SOXL, a leveraged semiconductor ETF. These are perpetual futures on stocks and funds, listed on crypto exchanges and traded with the same leverage as bitcoin.(Shaurya Malwa/CoinDesk)Almost all of it was long. Micron’s liquidations split roughly seven to one in favor of longs, $9 million against $1 million, and SanDisk’s ran two to one. Traders were using crypto rails to bet on the AI memory trade going up, and they were positioned that way heading into the sharpest chip selloff of the year.But the timing turned out unfortunate. SK Hynix fell 17% on Wednesday after reporting profit up 557%, short of expectations. Korea’s Kospi has dropped more than 40% from its June peak.It is the second time this week that equity perpetuals on crypto venues have caused real losses. On Monday, a single trade on a thin Korean pre-market venue dropped Trade.xyz’s SK Hynix contract 19% and triggered $60 million liquidations, which the exchange has since agreed to reimburse.Related Assets12345678910Anvil: The Missing Collateral LayerAnvil: The Missing Collateral LayerAnvil is a shared on-chain collateral layer built on a programmable letter of credit: reserve assets as a guarantee -no loan, no interest, keep custody & yield.18 hours agoAnvil is a shared on-chain collateral layer built on a programmable letter of credit: reserve assets as a guarantee -no loan, no interest, keep custody & yield.Why it matters:Anvil is a shared on-chain collateral layer built on a programmable letter of credit: reserve assets as a guarantee -no loan, no interest, keep custody & yield.View Full Report