Crypto Liquidations Top $1B as Bitcoin Dips to $80K

Over $1 billion in crypto liquidations hit traders in a single day, and Gen Z crypto bros felt every cent of it. Bitcoin dipped to roughly $80,300 on Thursday before bouncing back to about $82,500 on Friday, October 9, according to CoinDesk.

The $1.09 billion wipeout, by the numbers

Liquidations happen when an exchange force-closes a leveraged bet because the trader no longer has enough collateral. According to CoinGlass data cited by CoinCodex, more than 181,000 traders were liquidated over 24 hours, for a total of $1.09 billion. Long positions took $933 million of the damage, while shorts lost only about $157 million.

Ether got hit hardest. CoinDesk reports that ETH accounted for $345 million of the liquidations, ahead of bitcoin at $266 million and solana at $65 million. The single largest wipeout was a $20 million ETH position on Hyperliquid. Ether is down about 9% on the week, while bitcoin is down about 4%.

So what pushed everything over the edge? Rising oil prices, higher Treasury yields and jitters over a possible US strike on Iran all piled pressure onto risk assets. A tech selloff added to it after CNBC confirmed OpenAI told investors it had $50 billion in annualized revenue at the end of September, below the $68 billion figure widely reported last month.

Why everyone is thinking about October 10

The timing is awkward. Saturday marks one year since the October 10, 2025 crash, which wiped out more than $19 billion in leveraged positions in 24 hours and remains the largest such event in crypto history, according to CoinCodex. That crash followed new tariff threats against Chinese imports, and the stablecoin Ethena USDe briefly slid to around $0.65 on Binance.

Open interest in bitcoin is up 4% over seven days to about 650,480 BTC, which is close to the 4.1% rise seen before last year's crash. But CoinCodex notes the market looks less crowded this time. Open interest is 3.2% of market cap versus 3.7% before the collapse, and funding rates have been far calmer.

ETF money is heading for the exits

It is not just leverage. US spot bitcoin ETFs saw $244.1 million in net outflows on Thursday after $484.9 million on Wednesday, the biggest single-day exit since June 25, according to Farside Investors as reported by CoinCodex. Ether ETFs have now lost money for eight straight sessions. Combined bitcoin and ether ETF outflows reached about $986 million in October.

CoinDesk adds that XRP funds were the only US-listed crypto products to take in money on Thursday. That is a pretty loud signal about where big-money appetite sits right now: cautious. Glassnode also warned that the recent rally lacked strong spot-market participation, with combined spot and ETF volume averaging $6.8 billion over seven days, meaning the climb was never built on much real buying. Cryptoquant data also showed tracked US government bitcoin holdings fell by 17,468 BTC between October 6 and 8, though the data does not prove a direct link to the pullback.

Did the Iran news save the day?

Partly. After President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the US would not attack Iran before the November 3 midterms, bitcoin rebounded and Brent crude slipped about 1% to around $103 a barrel, per CoinDesk. If you want the politics behind that pledge, we broke it down in our politics coverage.

But the bounce came without fresh leverage. CoinDesk points out that futures open interest has barely moved from Thursday's flush, at $27.1 billion, and about 65% of accounts are long. That is a lot of people betting on up, which is exactly the setup that makes liquidation cascades possible.

What to watch next

Another round of crypto liquidations is the obvious fear, and it is why the weekend matters. The immediate test is whether bitcoin can hold above $80,000 through Saturday and Sunday without triggering forced selling that feeds on itself. Quiet weekends can still turn ugly when thin liquidity meets crowded long bets, so keep position sizes small.

Analysts are staring at $81,500 to $83,300 as key support. Glassnode flagged liquidation clusters in that zone, and traders like Rekt Capital say a weekly close below $82,500 could flip support into resistance. If it breaks, $75,000 is the next level people are eyeing. The next big catalyst is US September inflation data due October 14.

The takeaway for anyone trading with borrowed money: one bad morning can erase your account before you even open the app. Check the crypto section for more, and remember none of this is financial advice. Leverage is a loud, expensive way to learn that markets do not care about your conviction.