Ether accounted for the largest share of liquidations during Thursday’s crypto market downturn, with approximately $356 million in ETH positions closed over 24 hours. Bitcoin liquidations reached $298 million, even though BTC’s market capitalization is more than five times that of Ether.

Leveraged positions are liquidated when traders’ losses exhaust the collateral backing their bets, forcing exchanges to close those trades automatically. Such forced closures can add to selling pressure during a downturn, driving prices lower and triggering further liquidations.

The cryptocurrency market saw $1.19 billion in total liquidations over the 24-hour period, including more than $1 billion from long positions. These were trades placed by investors expecting prices to increase. The largest single liquidation involved an Ether position worth nearly $20 million on Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange for leveraged trading.

Ether’s liquidation losses were especially severe when measured against its market value, reaching roughly six times Bitcoin’s relative impact. ETH recorded about $1.2 million in liquidations for every $1 billion of market capitalization, compared with approximately $180,000 for BTC. Ether declined more than 3% to around $2,490, while Bitcoin fell about 1%.

Other major tokens also experienced significant liquidations. Solana accounted for $71 million, XRP for $34 million and NEAR for $25 million, while all remaining cryptocurrencies collectively contributed another $119 million.

Bitcoin dropped from approximately $83,200 to nearly $80,400 late Thursday. The sell-off followed Federal Reserve minutes indicating that most policymakers expected another rate increase before the end of the year. Reports that the Pentagon was preparing for a possible return to major combat operations in Iran also lifted oil prices, adding to market uncertainty.

Concerns about cryptocurrency security further unsettled traders after Ethereum researcher Justin Drake warned that artificial intelligence could weaken the mathematical protections behind crypto wallets sooner than expected. Meanwhile, traders had accumulated leveraged bets throughout the week as Bitcoin moved between $83,000 and $87,000. The break below that trading range left many positions exposed to forced liquidation.

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Bitcoin’s subsequent recovery has put traders betting against the market under pressure. BTC climbed to approximately $82,200 after President Donald Trump said the United States would not strike Iran before the midterm elections. Short positions accounted for around 78% of the roughly $25 million liquidated over the previous four hours. In the latest hour, nearly $12 million of approximately $13 million in liquidations came from traders expecting prices to fall.

The short squeeze is unfolding one day before the anniversary of October 10, 2025, when a record $19 billion in crypto positions were liquidated in a single day. Thursday’s total was roughly one-sixteenth of that amount. Bitcoin is now trading about $800 below $83,000, the level at which the latest sell-off began.