The cryptocurrency market just weathered a truly historic storm. In a single 24-hour period, nearly $20 billion in crypto positions were wiped out. This massive event came after former U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans for heavy new tariffs on Chinese imports.
This collapse wasn’t just a small dip; it was the biggest one this year, and possibly the largest ever in dollar terms for the crypto world. Bitcoin alone plunged $17,000 in value on that day. About $16.8 billion of the total liquidations were “long” positions. These are bets that prices will go up, and traders were forced to sell quickly as values dropped. More than 1.6 million individual traders saw their accounts closed against their will during this time.
Data from Coinglass shows Bitcoin and Ethereum took the biggest hits. Bitcoin saw $5.3 billion in liquidations, and Ethereum faced $4.4 billion. Most of these came from those optimistic “long” bets. On the Hyperliquid exchange, one ETH-USDT trade alone resulted in a $203.36 million liquidation, marking the single largest order. One market watcher even called it “the largest” liquidation event in crypto history when looking at the dollar amount. This far overshadowed the nearly $3 billion in liquidations seen just a few weeks prior on September 21.
Trump’s China Tariffs Jolt Markets
The wave of forced sales on Friday started with a sharp drop in crypto prices. Trump announced a “massive” 100% tariff on goods coming from China. He said this was a response to Beijing’s “aggressive” moves on rare earth export controls.
The announcement didn’t just affect cryptocurrencies. It also rattled traditional stock markets. Major indexes like the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all lost ground, according to a report from Investors Business Daily. Companies such as Oracle, Tesla, Taiwan Semiconductor, and JPMorgan felt the pain too. However, stock losses eased a bit when Trump suggested he might still meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month. He also hinted the tariffs could be canceled if China changes its policies before November 1.
A Historic Shake-Up for Crypto
In the crypto market, Bitcoin briefly fell 13.5% to a low of $105,896. This was a sharp turn from earlier on Friday when it traded above $122,000. It had even hit a new all-time high of over $126,000 earlier in the week.
Ethereum also saw an aggressive correction, falling from $4,386 to under $3,600. That was a 12% drop in 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. Most other major cryptocurrencies showed double-digit losses. Dogecoin dropped 23%, and Litecoin lost over 26%, wiping out its morning gains. The total value of the entire crypto market fell more than 9% in a single day, settling at $3.8 trillion.
Trump later repeated his willingness to talk with Xi Jinping. He suggested the tariffs could be reversed if China changes its stance before November 1. This quick and violent price action reminded analysts of the market crash in March 2020, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
Trader Bob Loukas called it “Covid-level nuclear weapons” in a post on X. He added, “Ugly, ugly action. But also a great candidate for the mother of shakeouts,” as reported by CoinDesk. Ram Ahluwalia, founder of Lumida Wealth, called it a “brutal day.” He noted that “Trump news, combined with ‘overbought’ conditions, led to a sharp drop.”
Bitcoin’s price now sits at $112,272. This is down 7.2% over the last 24 hours and a 10.9% correction from its peak earlier in the week. Investors are watching closely. They want to know if this marks the end of recent market optimism or just a temporary correction in a naturally volatile market.