Liquidations hit highest level since Oct. 10 crypto market crash

Liquidations hit highest level since Oct. 10 crypto market crash

Thu, August 20, 2026 at 8:17 PM GMT+3 2 min read

• BTC-USD +6.69%
• ETH-USD +11.98%

Aug. 19 turned out to be an extraordinary day for the crypto market as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other cryptocurrencies began rallying after the U.S. Treasury announced it is at least doubling the amount of longer-term government bond buybacks.

The market-supporting measure is intended to improve liquidity and reduce stress in longer-dated Treasuries. In the short term, it can loosen financial conditions and make risk assets like Bitcoin more attractive.

Related: Standard Chartered makes new Bitcoin prediction on Treasury news

Due to the months-long bearish market conditions following the flash crash on Oct. 10, 2025, crypto traders had been holding massive short positions for a long time. But as crypto prices began rallying on Aug. 19, those bearish traders rushed to liquidate their positions.

As per the onchain analysis platform CoinGlass, crypto shorts worth $2.73 billion got wiped out on Aug. 19. In contrast, longs worth only $248.10 million got liquidated on the day. In short, crypto positions worth $2.97 billion got wiped out yesterday.

The figure is the highest since Oct. 10, 2025.

It was President Donald Trump's sudden tariff threat against China that triggered the crypto flash crash on Oct. 10 last year.

Note that Bitcoin had hit its all-time high (ATH) of $126,080 on Oct. 6 only days earlier. As a result, crypto traders were extremely bullish and held large long positions.

But as prices began crashing on Oct. 10, they rushed to liquidate their positions. Long positions worth $16.78 billion and short positions worth $2.46 billion got wiped out on the day, as per CoinGlass. The day saw total crypto positions worth $19.24 billion getting liquidated.

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Bitcoin surpasses $72K for first time since June 1

On Aug. 20, Bitcoin surpassed the $72,000 mark for the first time since June 1. It was trading at $71,757.02 at press time, up 11.5% in 24 hours.

Ether was trading at $2,275.80, up 19% in 24 hours. XRP rose to $1.21, up 19% in 24 hours.

The total crypto market cap stood at $2.52 trillion at press, up 10% in 24 hours.

Related: Bitcoin surges to $72,000 after Trump's major announcement

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Aug 20, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.