Behind the $357 million liquidation wave: Why longs became the biggest victims in the market

In the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market has experienced a clear bull collapse. According to CoinAnk data, the total liquidation across the network reached $357 million, with long positions liquidated at $314 million, accounting for 88%, while short positions were only liquidated at $42.92 million. This highly asymmetric liquidation structure reflects a rapid reversal of market sentiment and a collective stampede of leveraged longs.

Liquidation Structure Analysis

Extreme Long-Short Imbalance

This data highlights a clear market characteristic: the bullish momentum is being rapidly wiped out. The amount of long liquidations is more than 7 times that of shorts, indicating that the market has accumulated a large number of leveraged long positions, which lack resilience during price adjustments.

Major Coins Under Pressure

BTC and ETH, as the two main mainstream cryptocurrencies, saw liquidation amounts of $101 million and $77.5 million respectively, together accounting for nearly 50% of the total liquidations. This suggests that large sums of capital are concentrated in leveraged positions on these two coins, and price fluctuations have directly triggered chain reactions of liquidations.

Market Implications

Why are longs so fragile?

• Over-leverage: The market has accumulated excessive leveraged longs during the upward phase, concentrating risk
• Tight Stop-Losses: Long positions often have stop-loss points clustered at key round numbers, creating a stampede effect
• Sentiment Reversal: Influenced by macro news or technical breakdowns, bullish confidence quickly erodes
• Lack of Liquidity: During rapid declines, the market lacks sufficient buy-side support

Personal Viewpoint

This highly asymmetric liquidation structure usually appears during overly optimistic market phases. When longs accumulate to a certain extent, any negative factor can trigger a chain reaction. This event may signal a short-term cooling of market sentiment, and leveraged participants should exercise increased caution.

Follow-up Focus

After this liquidation wave, the leverage risk in the market has been somewhat alleviated, but it is important to monitor:

• Whether prices find new support levels
• Whether market sentiment further deteriorates
• Changes in on-chain fund flows

Summary

The $357 million liquidation in the past 24 hours, with 88% of it from longs, reflects a rapid breakdown after excessive bullish sentiment. BTC and ETH, as the main pressured coins, experienced massive liquidations. This highly asymmetric liquidation structure warns market participants that leverage risk requires ongoing attention, as overly optimistic long positions tend to be the most vulnerable.