Crypto Longs Suffer $1.66B Blow — Major Liquidations Triggered
By John Nada·Jun 3, 2026·3 min read
$1.84B in crypto leveraged positions liquidated as Bitcoin and Ethereum drop sharply. Long bets took a $1.66B hit. Open interest rises amid turmoil.
Crypto traders hoping for a rally were left reeling on Wednesday as a sharp downturn led to the largest liquidation event since early February. Roughly $1.84 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated over 24 hours, according to CoinDesk. Bitcoin's price plunged below $66,000, and Ethereum slid under $1,900, causing a near-pure flush of long bets — longs accounted for $1.66 billion of the total, while shorts saw only $180 million liquidated, per CoinGlass data.
The most significant casualty was a $59.67 million BTC-USDT long on HTX. Liquidation occurs when an exchange automatically closes a leveraged trade because the trader's losses have exceeded the collateral they posted to open it. In this scenario, Bitcoin longs absorbed $883.66 million of the damage, Ether longs another $475.73 million, and Solana (SOL) longs $91.18 million, with the remaining roughly $390 million spread across other cryptocurrencies like HYPE, DOGE, SUI, BNB, NEAR, AAVE, LINK, and the broader top-30 long book.
Despite the massive liquidation event, Bitcoin open interest, which represents the total value of all unsettled leveraged futures contracts, actually rose during the cascade. The contract count climbed from roughly 759,000 BTC to 788,600 BTC even as the long book was being wiped out. This increase in open interest amid falling prices suggests that new short positions are opening, indicating fresh bearish bets are building on top of the long flush.
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Retail traders on platforms such as Binance, OKX, and Bybit continued to hold long positions, with ratios of 2.22, 2.01, and 1.58, respectively. This shows a refusal to capitulate even after the significant wipeout. In stark contrast, whale accounts on OKX flipped to an 'extremely bearish' 0.54 long-short ratio, signaling a potential shift in sentiment among major players. The aggregate taker volume across the period showed $65.39 billion in sells against $60.16 billion in buys, with sellers as the marginal actors.
Binance shouldered 41% of the liquidation volume, totaling $748 million, with 89% of those positions being long. Hyperliquid followed with $314 million, of which 94% were longs, and Bybit logged $247 million with 93% longs. This uneven positioning among different trader types highlights the volatility and uncertainty currently gripping the market.
With the market capricious and fear returning, Bitcoin's volatility index, BVIV, surged nearly 20% on Tuesday, marking its biggest single-day spike since February 5. This jump in the fear gauge signals a return of apprehension after two months of relative calm, as traders brace for further price shifts. The market hasn't found a clearing level, suggesting potential for more volatility ahead. A break below $65,000 could bring $60,000 into play, while a hold might open the door to a relief bounce, though the positioning data argues against the bounce being the more likely outcome.