Short Positions Drive $140 Million of $155 Million in Crypto Liquidations

Crypto derivatives markets recorded $155 million in liquidations over a four-hour stretch on Oct. 20, with forced closures of short positions making up roughly 90% of the total.

Short positions accounted for $140 million, while liquidations of long positions totaled $15.11 million. The four-hour total was about 58% of the $267 million recorded across the full 24-hour period.

A total of 64,522 traders were liquidated during that 24-hour span. The largest single forced closure was valued at $11.96 million on Binance’s BTCUSDT market, a Bitcoin (BTC) trading pair. At that value, the largest event was just under 8% of the four-hour total.

Short positions are trades that benefit from falling prices, while long positions benefit when prices rise. A liquidation is a forced close of a leveraged position when an account no longer meets margin requirements. The figures show short-side liquidations dominated the four-hour tally, while the daily total covers a broader period.