Crypto liquidation hits $1 billion again, will bears take control?

The crypto market took a massive rollercoaster ride on Monday, March 3. Just 24 hours after US President Donald Trump’s bullish announcement of building a crypto reserve sent the market soaring by $350 billion, things reversed dramatically. That massive surge quickly turned into one of the worst sell-offs 2025 has seen so far.

The biggest digital assets reversed their gains, sending derivative market traders into complete chaos. Investors may continue trading in confusion, till the intensified market stabilizes. Amid the increased uncertainty, more than $1 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated. Traders who were betting on a post-crypto reserve rally got wrecked.

Bitcoin crashes to $83K

As per the data provided by CoinGlass, around 300k traders got liquidated in the last 24 hours. The total liquidations (including both long and short bets) again breached the $1 billion mark. However, the single largest liquidation order of $13.4 million got executed on Bitfinex.

$934 million worth of total liquidation (85%) turned out to be long bets. This suggests that traders were expecting the bullish run to continue after Trump made the announcement about his crypto reserve, but the market took a 180-degree turn after the recent tariff declaration. The cumulative crypto market cap dropped by 8% to stand at $2.77 trillion. Again, a $300 billion wipe-off.

Bitcoin alone recorded $370 million worth of liquidations, out of which $307 million worth of liquidated positions were long bets. BTC price dropped by over 8% in the last 24 hours. It went from trading above the $93,000 level straight to the $82,000 zone. Bitcoin is trading at an average price of $83,687 at press time. However, the data shows that the Open Interest (OI) in the Bitcoin price action dropped by 12% in the last 24 hours. This suggests that the traders are taking a step back until they get clarity over the tariff wars.

Bitcoin bull cycle still intact

Ki Young Ju, CEO at CryptoQuant, in an X post stated that the Bitcoin market is likely to remain slow until sentiment in the US improves. He added that there is not much on-chain activity seen and key indicators are neutral. This suggests that the bull cycle is still intact. Meanwhile, Fundamentals remain strong with more mining rigs coming online.

He highlighted that if the cycle ends here, then it’s an outcome no one wants. This is not what old whales, mining companies, TradFi, or even Trump asked for.

#Bitcoin market will likely remain slow until sentiment in the U.S. improves.

There’s no significant on-chain activity, and key indicators are neutral, suggesting the bull cycle is still intact. Fundamentals remain strong, with more mining rigs coming online.

If the cycle ends… https://t.co/fSWl26d0gx pic.twitter.com/byWdweZhSQ

— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) March 4, 2025

Top altcoins like Ethereum, XRP, Solana and Cardano also witnessed a massive drop. Ether and XRP prices plunged by 10% each, while SOL and ADA shed 15% of their gains over the last 24 hours. And it wasn’t just crypto that got hit. The broader risk-off shift in global markets affected stocks, too. Big players like Nvidia (NVDA) dipped below its post-DeepSeek lows, and Tesla (TSLA) kept spiraling down, erasing billions in market value.

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