* On Oct. 10, the crypto market suffered its largest liquidation in market history.
* Over $7 billion in positions were erased in a single hour, seven times larger than the biggest 2022 wipeout.
* Who’s behind the crash? Donald Trump, China, or Binance.
Markets live and die on trust, but in crypto, confidence can evaporate in minutes.
On Friday, Oct. 10, that fragility was on full display when the crypto market suffered its largest-ever liquidation event, erasing over $40 billion in 24 hours.
What began as a sharp reaction to President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement against China quickly spiraled into a full-blown black swan event.
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) collapsed by double-digits in under an hour, altcoins cratered by up to 50%, and exchanges struggled under the strain.
The shock spilled into traditional finance, dragging the S&P 500 down 2.7% in its worst day of the year.
In the aftermath, traders were left grasping for answers.
Was this the inevitable result of Trump’s trade war rhetoric? A liquidity mishap inside Binance? Or even a coordinated exploit?
The search for a culprit became as dramatic as the crash itself.
The Largest Crypto Bloodbath Yet
On Friday, Oct. 10, at 18:00 UTC, the global crypto market entered uncharted territory.
A cascade of liquidations, totaling more than $40 billion in just 24 hours, made it the largest wipeout in the industry’s history.
Bitcoin, which had set a new all-time high above $126,000 just days earlier, plummeted to $102,000 within minutes.
Ethereum plunged 16% to under $3,700, while altcoins like Solana and Dogecoin shed 20-40% in minutes.
According to CoinGlass, more than $7 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated in just one hour, a pace seven times larger than the worst moments of 2022.
Bitcoin leverage traders were hit the hardest, followed by Ethereum.
The scale of Friday’s liquidation dwarfed FTX’s $1.6 billion collapse in 2022 and the $1.2 billion COVID crash in March 2020, which were nearly 10-20 times larger in dollar terms.
Over-leveraged longs got margin-called en masse for $16.7 billion (88% of total).
The S&P 500 also fell 2.7% on the same day, its steepest single-day drop since early 2025, as investors scrambled for safety amid escalating trade tensions and the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.
Trump’s Tariff Shock
The immediate spark came from Washington.
At 18:00 UTC, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that his administration would impose 100% tariffs on all Chinese imports starting Nov. 1, alongside fresh export restrictions on software.
