Crypto Sees $242M in Liquidations Within Hours Amid Russia-Ukraine Crisis

Global markets faltered as Russia started a "special military operation" in Ukraine, causing a drastic drop in crypto markets.

AccessTimeIconFeb 24, 2022 at 6:27 a.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 4:42 p.m. UTC
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Crypto markets saw over $242 million in liquidations in early Asian hours as markets reacted to Russian troops moving further into Ukraine in what Russian President Vladimir Putin called a "special military operation."

  • Bitcoin-tracked futures saw $72 million in liquidations – the most among all cryptocurrencies – followed by ether futures at $70 million. Altcoin-tracked futures saw comparatively lesser liquidations than bitcoin and ether, with losses on Solana’s SOL futures reaching $6.46 million, XRP futures reaching $5.18 million, and Dogecoin’s DOGE futures reaching $6.81 million.
  • Liquidations in the crypto market happen when a trader has insufficient funds to fund a margin call – or a call for extra collateral demanded by the exchange to keep the trading position funded. They’re especially common in high-risk trading due to the high volatility of assets. It occurs in both margins and futures trading.
  • Thursday morning’s moves contributed to over $411 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours. Some 114,700 traders were liquidated, with the largest single liquidation order occurring on OKX, a LINK trade valued at over $3.21 million.
  • Crypto exchange OKX saw the highest liquidations at $73 million, followed by Binance’s $48 million and Bybit’s $24 million.
  • Over 87% of all liquidated traders were "long’ the market, or betting on higher prices, data from analytics tool Coinglass show.
  • The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies plunged nearly 7.8% in early Asian hours
  • Bitcoin dropped nearly 8%, while stock futures in Asia and Europe were down 1.5% on average.
  • Russia President Vladimir Putin said in an early morning broadcast the "special military operation" in Ukraine was designed to achieve the “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine,” as reported.

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Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Data & Tokens team, focusing on decentralized finance, markets, on-chain data, and governance across all major and minor blockchains.


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