Bitcoin Loses $106K as Bullish Crypto Bets Rack up $800M in Liquidations

Bitcoin dropped below $106,000 in early European hours Friday as leveraged traders once again faced heavy losses, with nearly $1.2 billion in crypto positions wiped out over the past 24 hours.

Data shows that most of the damage came from long positions, reflecting how aggressively traders had positioned for a bounce earlier in the week.

According to CoinGlass, almost 79% of total liquidations were long trades, affecting more than 307,000 accounts. The largest single hit was a $20.4 million ETH-USD long on Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives exchange that has quietly become one of the main engines of leveraged trading in crypto.

Bitcoin accounted for roughly $344 million in losses, followed by Ether at $201 million, and Solana SOL$180.48 at $97 million. XRP, DOGE$0.1823 and other high-beta tokens each saw tens of millions more cleared from open interest.

Across exchanges, Hyperliquid saw the most activity at $391 million, followed by Bybit at $300 million, Binance at $259 million, and OKX at $99 million. That mix shows how on-chain venues are now sitting side by side with traditional trading platforms during major market resets.

Liquidations occur when traders using borrowed money to amplify positions can no longer meet margin requirements. In simple terms, if the market moves too far against a leveraged bet, the position is forcibly closed to prevent further losses.

These events can turn into cascading sell-offs when large clusters of stop orders trigger at once, creating what traders call a “liquidation loop.”

Such loops are often tracked through liquidation heatmaps and open interest data, which can show where large concentrations of leverage sit in the market. When price approaches these zones, traders watch closely for potential squeeze or unwind events that can define the next directional move.

Bitcoin’s decline began late Thursday as prices slipped through the $107,000 level, setting off a chain of forced closures that rippled through derivatives markets.

The move comes against a tense macro backdrop. Renewed friction between the U.S. and China has dented risk appetite, while a stronger yen and weaker gold prices have added to the uncertainty. Bitcoin has now given back most of its early-week gains, while ether trades just below $3,900, down about 4% on the day.