$2.6B Wiped Out in 24 Hours — Crypto’s 10th Largest Liquidation Ever Just Hit

Key Takeaways

• Over $2.14 billion in bullish positions got liquidated (vs. just $466 million in shorts), with nearly 580,000 traders rekt in 24 hours.
• BTC led with $1.35 billion in liquidations, followed by ETH ($570 million) and SOL ($188 million). The single biggest hit was a $12 million BTC long on Binance.
• This slots into CoinGlass’s all-time top 10, behind events like the October 2025 U.S. tariff hike on China ($19.16B) and various 2021 crashes, but joins recent 2026 flushes (e.g., January 31 over-leveraged longs at $2.56B).

The crypto market just got hit with a brutal flush: total liquidations surged past $2.6 billion in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data. This massive wipeout ranks as the 10th largest single-day liquidation event in crypto history, underscoring how over-leveraged the space had become amid the ongoing downturn.

Bitcoin (BTC) is trading around $64,880 (down over 8.6% in the last day and nearly 30% over the past 30 days), while Ethereum (ETH) sits at roughly $1,874 (down 11% daily and 42% monthly). The broader market has shed hundreds of billions in value recently, with altcoins like Solana (SOL) taking particularly heavy hits—SOL now hovering near $80 after sharp declines.

The liquidation heatmap paints a clear picture: BTC led the carnage with $1.35 billion in forced closures, followed by ETH at $570 million, and SOL contributing around $188 million. Overwhelmingly, longs got rekt—$2.14 billion in bullish bets liquidated versus just $466 million in shorts over the full period. In the last 24 hours alone, nearly 580,000 traders were wiped out, with the single largest order being a $12 million BTC long on Binance.

Crypto’s 10th Largest Liquidation Ever Just Hit

This event slots right into CoinGlass’s all-time top 10 liquidation list:

1. October 2025 – $19.16B (U.S. tariff hike on China)
2. April 2021 – $9.94B (AML rumors + mining halt)
3. May 2021 – $9.01B (Tesla reversal + regulatory fears)
   …
   And now this February 2026 flush joins recent entries like the January 31, 2026 over-leveraged longs wipeout at $2.56B (previously #10).

What triggered this massive cascade?

The pressure has been building for weeks.

Bitcoin already erased its post-election rally and briefly dipped near $60,000 intraday before attempting a small bounce. At the same time, broader markets turned risk-off — equities weakened, precious metals cooled, and macro uncertainty around rates and policy drained liquidity.

That fragile backdrop met an over-leveraged crypto market.

Once BTC lost key support, liquidations kicked in. Those forced sells pushed price lower, triggering even more stop-outs across exchanges. Ethereum followed, and altcoins felt the spillover almost instantly.

Solana’s move was particularly technical. The breakdown aligns with the head-and-shoulders pattern and the NVIDIA 2008 fractal comparison we’ve discussed earlier — momentum flipped sharply as SOL fell below major moving averages, accelerating liquidations across the altcoin space.

Bottom Line

Watch BTC holding $60K–$65K as critical; a failure could drag alts lower. But if stabilization kicks in—think funding rate flips, volume dry-up, or quick reclaim of broken levels—it could set up for a sharp relief bounce.

Written by

Nilesh Hembade

Nilesh Hembade is the Founder and Author of Coinsprobe, with 5+ years of experience in cryptocurrency and blockchain. Since launching the platform in 2023, he delivers daily, research-driven insights through market analysis, on-chain data, and technical research. His work has been featured on Binance, Bitget, and CoinMarketCap. He is also certified through Binance Academy (NFT Certificate).

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