Bitcoin flash crashes to $90,200 causing over $885 million in liquidations

Bitcoin’s (BTC) historic rally above $100,000 hit a roadblock on Dec. 5 as the flagship crypto fell back into five-figure territory, leaving a trail of liquidations across the market.

BTC gave up almost all of the 24-hour gains that took it to a new all-time high of $103,679. It fell to a low of roughly $90,300 for the day before attempting a recovery.

Bitcoin was trading at $95,500 as of press time amid heavy volatility, based on CryptoSlate data.

Liquidations

Roughly $885.61 million in leveraged positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours, impacting 202,956 traders worldwide. Bitcoin accounted for $217.33 million of the total liquidations, followed by Ethereum (ETH) with $81.04 million.

Other altcoins also experienced substantial liquidations, including XRP with $37.07 million, DOGE with $32.25 million, and Solana with $23.74 million. A combined $92 million was liquidated across other cryptocurrencies, highlighting the broad impact of Bitcoin’s price movement.

Of the total liquidations, long positions were the most affected, contributing $391.51 million, or 62%, of the total. Short positions accounted for $242.84 million. The largest single liquidation was recorded on OKX, where a BTC-USDT swap worth $18.63 million was forcibly closed.

Binance saw the highest exchange-specific liquidation volume, totaling $53.22 million, followed by OKX at $46.03 million and Bybit at $30.54 million. Across all exchanges, long liquidations made up 87.48% of the total, reflecting strong expectations of continued price gains.

Market volatility

Long traders, who bet on rising prices, bore the brunt of the impact, with $640.83 million in liquidated positions — 72.4% of the total. Short positions, which bet on price declines, accounted for $244.78 million. The largest single liquidation occurred on OKX, where an $18.63 million BTC-USDT swap was forcibly closed.

Breaking down the data further, $284.43 million was liquidated in just one hour, of which $279.50 million were longs. Over the last 12 hours, $552.54 million in liquidations were recorded, including $482.81 million in longs and $69.72 million in shorts.

The four-hour liquidation figure stood at $428.42 million, reflecting heightened volatility during Bitcoin’s decline.

Editor’s Note: The liquidation numbers for exchanges and altcoins may not be up to date due to extremely high volatility at the time the article was published.