These liquidations followed a big intraday swing for Bitcoin and a relatively modest price move for Ethereum. BTC traded between $111,971 and $116,235 on Binance, closing at $114,291, while ETH ranged from $3,357 to $3,735 before settling at $3,645.91.
Despite smaller relative price changes, ETH’s liquidation volume outpaced BTC nearly 2-to-1, showing that its market was much more heavily leveraged or misaligned with short-term sentiment.
ETH saw $43.08 million in short liquidations, more than triple Bitcoin’s $14.35 million, suggesting many traders expected continued downside that failed to materialize. A lack of ETF activity and internal network developments seems to have increased speculation around ETH, which in turn triggered erratic leverage positioning.
The total liquidation skew was heavily long-biased, with $238.97 million in long positions wiped out, compared to $112.88 million in shorts. This tells us traders positioned for a bullish breakout but were gradually forced out by range-bound or fading rallies. BTC’s relatively steady close, just slightly below the daily high, shielded it from more extreme liquidations, while ETH’s volatility drew aggressive positioning on both ends.
