Fed Rate Decision Triggers $286M Crypto Liquidations Amid Flat Bitcoin and Ether Prices

Woofun AI reports that a massive $286 million in leveraged positions were wiped out across 87,294 traders within a 24-hour window, despite Bitcoin and Ether prices remaining largely flat. This phenomenon reveals a market where extreme volatility occurred beneath the surface of stable headline prices, with Bitcoin closing near $63,900 and Ether slipping to $1,900.

The total liquidation figure of $286 million was composed of $186 million in long positions and $100 million in short positions, indicating a violent two-way price movement that ultimately settled back to its starting point. Bitcoin-specific liquidations totaled approximately $57 million, with a nearly even split between $28 million in longs and $29 million in shorts. This balance occurred despite Bitcoin’s price swinging only between $63,247 and $64,660, a range of barely 2%, which was sufficient to trigger cascading exits for traders positioned on either side. Ether recorded the largest total liquidation volume at about $58 million, heavily tilted toward longs, as its price ranged between $1,920 and $1,850. The single largest individual liquidation was a $2.9 million Bitcoin position on Binance, underscoring the severity of the squeeze.

The Federal Reserve’s rate decision on Wednesday served as the primary catalyst, with the bulk of the damage concentrated in the 12 hours surrounding the announcement. During this critical window, $188 million in positions were liquidated, with longs bearing the brunt of the losses at $130 million.

A more unusual and significant wreckage occurred in equity perpetuals, where semiconductor sector positions were decimated. Approximately $19 million in SanDisk positions were liquidated on crypto derivatives venues, alongside $10 million in Micron, $7 million in SK Hynix, and $7 million in SOXL, a leveraged semiconductor ETF. These instruments are perpetual futures on stocks and funds, listed on crypto exchanges and traded with the same high leverage as Bitcoin.

Almost all of these liquidations were long positions; Micron’s liquidations split roughly seven to one in favor of longs, with $9 million against $1 million, while SanDisk’s ran two to one. Traders were using crypto rails to bet on the AI memory trade going up, but they were positioned incorrectly heading into the sharpest chip selloff of the year. SK Hynix fell 17% on Wednesday after reporting a profit increase of 557%, which still fell short of market expectations.

This decline contributed to a broader regional downturn, as Korea’s Kospi has dropped more than 40% from its June peak.

This event marks the second time this week that equity perpetuals on crypto venues have caused substantial real losses. On Monday, a single trade on a thin Korean pre-market venue dropped Trade.xyz’s SK Hynix contract by 19%, triggering $60 million in liquidations, which the exchange has since agreed to reimburse. The recurrence of such incidents highlights the systemic risks associated with cross-asset leverage and the fragility of pricing mechanisms in thinly traded equity derivatives on crypto platforms.