Crypto Liquidations Top $1.25B as BTC, ETH Face Risk

Crypto liquidations topped $1.25 billion over 24 hours, affecting 239,733 traders, according to CoinGlass data. Long positions accounted for $1.11 billion, or 88.6%, while short positions accounted for $142.17 million.

Bitcoin recorded $331 million in liquidations, including $297.9 million from long positions and $31.7 million from shorts. Ethereum recorded $213 million, with $177.5 million from longs and $31.2 million from shorts. Binance accounted for 45.2% of reported liquidations. Its largest reported liquidation was an Ethereum position worth $10.94 million.

The liquidation data followed a rise in Bitcoin-denominated futures open interest during a market decline. A Nov. 2 report from Bitfinex found that open interest increased 12.1% to 694,728 BTC over 19 days while Bitcoin’s price fell 5.3%. Open interest measures the total number of outstanding futures contracts.

Bitcoin-denominated open interest tracks the number of contracts in BTC terms. Dollar-denominated open interest can fall when Bitcoin’s price declines, even if the number of contracts remains unchanged. Funding rates also remained positive, meaning traders with bullish positions continued to pay traders with bearish positions.

Traders can open new positions after liquidations. That leaves additional leveraged contracts exposed to forced closure if prices fall further.

Spot market data showed further selling pressure. Short-term Bitcoin holders sold at a loss for the first time since August, with the Spent Output Profit Ratio falling to 0.992. The metric measures whether coins are being sold above or below their purchase prices.

U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $643.2 million in outflows on Oct. 30. October was their first month of net outflows since June. The funds recorded about $870 million in outflows during the first six days of November, according to the source data.

Bitcoin traded at about $75,507 on Nov. 6. Liquidation heatmap data identified an estimated $1.12 billion in long liquidation liquidity below that level. Clusters near $75,206 and $75,057 represented about $147.2 million and $143.9 million, respectively.

The same data showed about $91.3 million in short liquidation liquidity near $77,517. Ethereum recorded about $210.33 million in liquidations during the same period.

Indicators used to track whether forced selling is easing include a sustained decline in coin-denominated open interest, funding rates moving toward neutral, stronger spot demand and fewer large long liquidations.

Reviewed and fact-checked by Alex Panasenko on November 6.