Crypto markets were hit with nearly $900 million in liquidations to start the week, wiping out overleveraged longs after a sharp correction in both bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH).
ETH traders bore the brunt, with $320 million in forced unwinds, followed by $277 million tied to bitcoin. Solana's SOL (SOL), XRP (XRP), and Dogecoin (DOGE) saw another $90 million combined, according to Coinglass. The wipeouts came as ETH fell back from $4,700 toward $4,400 and BTC slipped to $110,200, tracking weakness in the S&P 500.
“This sharp move appears to be the result of overleveraged positioning, particularly following ETH’s recent run-up, and an overnight dip in the S&P 500, which weighed on risk assets more broadly,” a trader note from Derixe.xyz noted.
Volatility surged in the aftermath. Daily BTC vol jumped from 15% to 38%, while ETH’s spiked from 41% to 70%, data from Derive.xyz shows. That spread suggests traders see ether as the more fragile bet right now, as its rallies draw heavier leverage, but when the market turns, those same positions get forced out faster, creating sharper moves in both directions.
Options markets leaned defensive, with 25-delta skew flipping negative for both majors — the strongest preference for puts in two weeks.
The reset has traders eyeing round-number levels as next pressure points. Implied odds for BTC to revisit $100,000 by September-end rose to 35% from 20% last week, while ETH is now seen with a 55% chance of retesting $4,000, according to market pricing.
That divergence between the two majors is also showing up in futures and vol. CME data points to record shorts in ETH futures, likely tied to hedging around digital asset tokenization (DAT) flows or funding-basis arbitrage.
“BTC implied vol collapsed to new record lows post-Powell as a bit of a surprise, leading to a significant divergence vs a (still) rising ETH IV,” said Augustine Fan, head of insights at SignalPlus, in a message to CoinDesk.
With GDP data due August 28 and U.S. unemployment figures early September, traders are bracing for more chop. Leverage may have flushed, but the setup suggests the path ahead could remain volatile especially for ETH, where positioning looks more stretched and flows more concentrated than in bitcoin.
Read more: Massive $14.6B Bitcoin and Ether Options Expiry Shows Bias for Bitcoin Protection
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