The Bitcoin price, for lack of a better word, is all over the place. Yes, there were expectations that the BTC USDT price would easily squeeze past $95,000, and even surge to $100,000 today. However, from the look of things, bears are not budging, which is not good news for digital gold.
The current state of crypto prices means some of the top cryptos to buy are swinging both ways, mincing traders. During Trump’s speech at Davos, the Bitcoin price breached $90,000, only to break lower.
JUST IN: President Trump said live at Davos that he wants #Bitcoin market structure to pass immediately. pic.twitter.com/jK57vMHiv4
— Bitcoin Library (@BTC_Library21) January 21, 2026
This high volatility, which at one point saw the BTC USD price sink below $88,000, triggered massive liquidations. Fundamentally, the move came at a tense macro moment, with US policy headlines and bond market stress prompting traders to make quick decisions.
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Over $600M Liquidated: Long and Short Traders Not Spared
Trading data shows that over $600M of leveraged crypto trades have been liquidated in the past 24 hours. Unlike past events when the liquidation pattern is skewed, leaning on either bulls or bears, liquidation has been “split”. To put it in numbers, roughly $300M of long and short traders were liquidated. Both sides were wrong, and liquidation came fast.
(Source: Coinglass)
A liquidation happens when an exchange forces the closure of a trader’s position because borrowed money pushed losses too far. Think of it like a bank selling your car because your loan went bad. Roughly 142,000 traders got wiped out in a single session.
That tells us something important. The market was crowded with borrowed bets and had no room for mistakes. Out of this mess, a single ETH-USD position worth $40.22 million was liquidated by Hyperliquid systems.
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Why This Keeps Happening To Bitcoin And Ethereum?
The derivatives market for Ethereum and Bitcoin runs hot. Futures and options are side bets on price, similar to sports betting with credit. Recently, the Bitcoin price futures open interest sat at over $81Bn.
(Source: Coinglass)
That much borrowed exposure turns small moves into violent swings. When BTC slipped under $88,000, long positions auto-sold. When it bounced, short sellers got trapped. A classic whipsaw. You’ve seen this movie before. Similar pressure hit altcoins when liquidations hit traders during sudden drops. Leverage does not care if your market thesis is smart. It only cares about timing.
As mentioned before, one Ethereum trade on Hyperliquid lost over $40M in seconds. Hyperliquid alone saw about $214M erased, with most losses tied to short bets that went bad after the rebound. Binance and Bybit also felt the pain. Binance logged about $113M in liquidations, mostly from long positions. Bybit followed with nearly $90M. These are not small players. This is core market plumbing under stress.
(Source: Coinglass)
If you buy spot Bitcoin and hold it in your own wallet, this event does not liquidate you. That matters. These wipeouts hit traders using heavy borrowing, not patient holders. Still, there’s a warning here. Sudden swings like this often appear when macro news collides with crowded bets. We saw similar stress when the Bitcoin price slid under $90,000 earlier this week.
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