# Bitcoin liquidates over $600M in leveraged longs in one hour

**Published:** 2026-05-18T01:39:43.000Z  
**Topic:** Ethereum  
**Sentiment:** bearish  
**Publisher:** TrendWatcher — https://www.trendwatcher.in/article/5a6aebdf-07c7-4ce2-9480-6d7cd795e564

Bitcoin’s volatile swing wipes out $663 million of leveraged positions in four hours, with a $14.7 million single order, sparking fresh bearish pressure.

More than $600 million of leveraged Bitcoin positions were forced closed in a four‑hour window as the price slipped 5.2 % from a $59,920 high, according to Bybt data [4]. The biggest single liquidation hit the Seychelles‑based Huobi exchange at $14.68 million [4].

The surge came after Bitcoin rallied nearly 19 % over six days, only to reverse sharply amid a volatile quarterly close. Traders who had bet on further upside saw their collateral evaporate when the market turned, a pattern described by analyst Willy Woo as “walking into a forest and noticing the birds just stopped tweeting” [4].

CoinDesk reported that the broader crypto market saw $1.84 billion liquidated across all assets in the preceding 24 hours, with Bitcoin longs absorbing $883.66 million of that damage [2]. Binance, Hyperliquid and Bybit together handled roughly 41 % of the total cascade, underscoring the concentration of liquidations on major exchanges [2]. Despite the wipeout, open interest in Bitcoin futures actually rose, suggesting new short bets are piling in even as prices fall [2].

The confluence of a sharp price drop, thin liquidity and rising short exposure points to a market still searching for a clearing level. Retail traders on Binance remain net long, while whale accounts on OKX have flipped to a bearish stance, hinting at divergent expectations among participants [2]. With Bitcoin hovering near the $65,000 threshold, a breach could open a path toward $60,000, but the current positioning data makes a sustained bounce less likely [2].

The episode highlights how quickly leveraged exposure can evaporate in a volatile crypto environment, raising the question of whether the market will find a bottom or continue to spiral lower as short pressure builds.

## Sources
1. Insider — [The crypto market has seen $1 trillion in value erased in this month's plunge into bear territory](https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-market-meltdown-erased-1-trillion-bitcoin-btc-digital-assets-2025-11)
2. CoinDesk — [Bullish crypto bets lose $1.6 billion as ETH, SOL, DOGE drop 9%](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/06/03/bullish-crypto-bets-lose-usd1-6-billion-as-eth-sol-doge-drop-9)
3. Thecryptobasic — [Bitcoin and Crypto Market Liquidation Spikes to $2.2B in 24](https://thecryptobasic.com/2025/02/03/bitcoin-and-crypto-market-liquidation-spikes-to-2-2b-in-24-hours-amid-trade-war-fears/)
4. Crypto Briefing — [Market Volatility Liquidates More Than $600M in Bitcoin](https://cryptobriefing.com/volatility-liquidates-600m-bitcoin-positions/)

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Cite as: TrendWatcher, "Bitcoin liquidates over $600M in leveraged longs in one hour", https://www.trendwatcher.in/article/5a6aebdf-07c7-4ce2-9480-6d7cd795e564