$19B: Cryptocurrency market suffers biggest single-day wipeout in history
What's the story
The cryptocurrency market has witnessed its biggest single-day wipeout in history, with over $19 billion liquidated. The massive sell-off was triggered by US President Donald Trump's announcement of a 100% tariff on "any and all critical software" imports from China. The unexpected move sent digital assets into a downward spiral, leading to widespread sell-offs and liquidations across major tokens.
Market impact
Over 1.6M traders affected
According to data from Coinglass, the cryptocurrency market crash has affected over 1.6 million traders in the last 24 hours. More than $7 billion worth of positions were liquidated in less than an hour of trading on Friday alone. The total liquidation amount could be much higher as exchanges don't always report such orders in real-time, Coinglass noted in a post on X.
Tariff implications
Focus shifts to counterparty exposure
Trump's tariff announcement came after China imposed export restrictions on rare earth minerals, which are crucial for global manufacturing and technology production. The US has called this move "extraordinarily aggressive." Brian Strugats, head trader at Multicoin Capital, said the focus now shifts to counterparty exposure and whether this could trigger a wider market contagion. Some estimates even suggest total liquidations could exceed $30 billion.
Crypto performance
Bitcoin, Ethereum see major losses
In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin and Ethereum have seen major losses. Bitcoin was down 7.6% at $112,394.31, while Ethereum fell over 13% to $3,793, CoinMarketCap data showed. The world's largest cryptocurrency saw heavy liquidations worth around $9.5 billion after failing to hold support near the $120,000 mark. Other major digital assets also followed suit in the sell-off triggered by Trump's tariff announcement.
Investment advice
Good opportunity for long-term investors
Edul Patel, CEO of Mudrex, said the current market conditions present a good opportunity for investors to build long-term positions. He said despite the short-term selling pressure, overall sentiment remains bullish. "These declines could be used to gradually build long-term positions, especially in fundamentally strong assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum," Patel added.