ByBit CEO says as much as $10 billion was liquidated in latest crypto crash

ByBit cofounder and CEO Ben Zhou has disclosed that recent crypto market liquidations are far above the $2 billion reported by Coinglass. In a post on X, Zhou estimates that the value of total liquidations ranges from $8 billion to $10 billion.

According to Zhou, although Coinglass shows total liquidations at around $2 billion, ByBit alone recorded $2.1 billion in liquidation within that period, even though Coinglass data showed $333 million.

He said:

“I am afraid that today real total liquidation is a lot more than $2B, by my estimation it should be at least around $8-10b.  FYI, Bybit 24hr liquidation alone was $2.1B.”

Zhou explained that the discrepancy between the actual liquidation and what is shown on Coinglass is because Coinglass does not show all the liquidations. According to him, ByBit limits the liquidation data that its API provides, and other exchanges do the same. Zhou added “We have api limitation on how much feeds are pushed out per second. From my observation, other exchanges also practice the same to limit liquidation data.”

The ByBit CEO has promised to remove the restrictions so that all liquidation data from the exchange will be available through the API, noting that this aligns with the company’s belief in transparency.

K33 Head of Research calls for exchanges to remove API restrictions

Meanwhile, Zhou’s statement has again brought discussions about liquidation data to the forefront. While many crypto market observers have relied on liquidation data to know the impact of any major price change, the Head of Research at K33 Research, Vetle Lunde, noted that liquidation data has been unreliable and underreported since 2021.

In an earlier post on X, the researcher noted that three major crypto exchanges, OKX, Binance, and Bybit, changed how their API could push out liquidations by reducing it to one liquidation by a second.

Binance did it in April 2021, stating it wanted to optimize the user data stream. ByBit also made a similar move in September of the same year and explained that this would provide a fair trading environment.

However, Lunde believes that the exchanges decided to limit liquidation data because of the negative publicity that massive liquidation events were attracting at the time.

He said:

“Constantly figuring at the top of liquidation leaderboards is not aligning with a strategy of attracting as many as possible to trade as much volume as possible.”

With ByBit now committing to transparency and providing full liquidation data through its API, Lunde has called on Binance and OKX to do the same. However,  some users in the crypto community are concerned about the impact that full liquidation data could have on the market.

Crypto sentiment shifts to Fear after liquidation

The impact of the recent liquidation was not restricted to the massive drop in the value of crypto assets; it has also led to a change in market sentiments. According to CoinMarketCap, the Crypto Fear& Greed Index has moved to Fear.

Meanwhile, CryptoQuant analyst Mignolet noted that the market shock at the Bitcoin price decline is one of the largest ever, with the shock level quite significant compared to the percentage drop in value. They noted that this is the first major shock for the market since August 2024, breaking the open interest trend.

However, the analyst observed signs of aggressive buying already, with Coinbase Premium Gap at its highest level this year. This shows that someone is absorbing the liquidity. Bitcoin is already trending upward again, with the flagship asset now at $97,000 after falling as low as $91,242 today.

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