Well, it was a pretty rough day for crypto. The entire market took a noticeable hit over the last 24 hours, with the total value of everything out there dropping by almost 4%. That kind of movement doesn’t happen quietly. It set off a chain reaction of liquidations, apparently wiping out close to a billion dollars from traders who were caught on the wrong side of the bet. Most of that, from what I’ve seen, were people betting prices would go up.
A Closer Look at the Numbers
When you break it down, the major coins were all in the red. Bitcoin itself fell back under that psychological $110,000 mark. Ethereum had it even worse, dropping over 7% and slipping well below its recent high. And Solana? It was probably the hardest hit among the big names, losing more than 10% of its value. Not a great look for anyone who bought at the peak.
The data from Coinglass showed just how messy it got. Over two hundred thousand traders saw their positions liquidated. The total figure was just shy of a billion dollars, which is… a lot of money. The largest single liquidation event was a massive Bitcoin trade on HTX, worth tens of millions. Ethereum actually saw the highest total value liquidated, which is a bit surprising.
So, What Actually Caused This?
From what analysts are piecing together, it seems the main trigger was one single entity—a ‘whale’ in crypto terms—deciding to sell off a huge chunk of Bitcoin all at once. We’re talking about 24,000 BTC. That’s billions of dollars worth. Dumping that much that quickly is like throwing a boulder in a pond; it’s going to cause waves. It created a flash crash that dragged everything else down with it, even Ethereum, which had been doing okay moments before.
Of course, the usual critics chimed in. Peter Schiff, who’s never been a fan, pointed to the drop as a sign of underlying weakness. He suggested a much steeper decline could be coming and told people to sell. But, and this is the interesting part, it doesn’t look like many are listening.
The Other Side of the Coin: Whales Are Buying
Despite the fear and the headlines, some of the biggest players are treating this as a fire sale. Blockchain tracking firms are reporting that several known whale addresses have been on a serious buying spree. One address bought hundreds of millions worth of BTC since mid-July and is now sitting on a paper loss, seemingly unconcerned. Another big player swapped nearly a hundred million in stablecoins for a mix of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Even a dormant address woke up after four years to pull a stack of ETH off an exchange. It’s a clear signal that not everyone is panicking. For these players, a sharp dip isn’t a catastrophe—it’s a chance to accumulate more at a lower price. It adds a layer of complexity to the story. The market might be down, but confidence, at least for some, certainly isn’t out.
