Key Points
- A significant downturn in the cryptocurrency market led to an Ethereum whale losing $22 million in a single trade.
- The market’s collapse resulted in over $1 billion in digital assets being liquidated across various exchanges.
The recent downturn in the cryptocurrency market has led to substantial losses for many investors. One Ethereum whale, in particular, experienced a loss of millions of dollars in one trade.
Blockchain security company, PeckShield, identified a whale wallet, known as “0xac4e…7597f”. This wallet held a long position on Ethereum (ETH) perpetual contracts and was liquidated of 7,467.5 of the digital asset, totaling approximately $22.3 million, on Monday morning.
Unpredictability of the Crypto Market
The crypto market is infamous for its volatility, with prices capable of rising or falling significantly in a short time. Recently, the market experienced a steep decline, with Bitcoin (BTC) dropping over 16% to $50,691 on August 5, while Ethereum took a 23.65% dip, falling to $2,226.
This sudden drop led to a widespread sell-off as investors sought to protect themselves from potential losses. This created a domino effect, causing the market to dip further. Many leveraged positions were abruptly closed, leaving traders shocked as they watched their assets disappear. Among those affected was an Ethereum whale who lost $22 million in a single trade.
Another trader, identified by the address “0x0b5a…d8c5”, was liquidated of nearly $6 million worth of Ether, according to PeckShield. The firm also revealed that other Ethereum whales suffered losses of $5.8 million and $7.38 million, respectively.
These liquidated positions were held by long traders who had bet on the potential price performance of the second-largest digital asset in the industry.
Impact of Market Collapse
These losses are part of a larger market collapse that resulted in more than $1 billion in digital assets being liquidated across various exchanges. CoinGlass, a blockchain analytics firm, showed that within the past 24 hours, a total of 270,259 traders who opened both long and short leveraged positions on different cryptocurrencies suffered a combined loss of $1.04 billion.
During this time, Ethereum traders were liquidated of more than $340 million, with long traders bearing the majority of the market decline. These traders lost $295 million, while short traders suffered a relatively minor loss of only $44 million.
Bitcoin traders also faced substantial losses totaling $346.39 million, with long traders losing approximately $298 million, while short sellers recorded losses of around $49 million in total.
Liquidation Locations
These liquidations primarily occurred on exchanges like Binance, HTX, Bybit, BitMEX, and OKX. The largest single liquidation order happened on Huobi via the BTC/USD pair, valued at around $27 million.
Crypto traders on Binance lost approximately $405 million as the market turned bearish over the weekend. Similarly, OKX saw losses of around $315 million, while HTX traders lost approximately $146 million.
The bearish trend remained strong on centralized exchanges, overpowering Bybit and BitMEX, despite their security measures. Both digital asset trading platforms lost $87 million and $40 million, respectively.
