Bitcoin (BTC) Liquidation Wave Tops $666 Million as Longs Take the Brunt

$666 Million Forced Out, 85% From Longs

Crypto derivatives unwound $666 million in leveraged positions over the past 24 hours, and nearly all of it came from one side of the book. Liquidation data shows long traders absorbed $568 million of that total — more than 85% — against just $98 million in short closures. Roughly 115,000 accounts were wiped out across the network. The single largest hit was a $22.52 million Bitcoin (BTC) position on Binance, the venue that tops our best crypto exchanges guide — a crypto whale-sized exit showing how deep into the size curve the squeeze reached. A liquidation, briefly defined, is the forced closure of a leveraged trade once its margin can no longer cover losses; when price turns against a crowded side, those closures chain into one another and steepen the move. The long-skew is the tell: a book this crowded on the bullish side is precisely the setup that produces cascades of this size. That chain reaction centered on Bitcoin (BTC), the largest proof-of-work asset by market value. During Wednesday's Asian session the coin dropped to $75,814, a 2.67% loss on the day, while Ethereum (ETH) gave up the $2,400 handle with a 4.44% slide. The broader crypto market capitalization shed close to $10 billion in a single session. The selling began in the overnight hours and accelerated through the Asian morning as margin engines worked through stacked long orders. Our read of the liquidation tape: the cluster sat in perpetual-futures longs accumulated through last week's advance, and each round-number break triggered another wave of margin calls, building the tally from tens of millions at the first wick to the full $666 million by the time selling stabilized. Even so, the pace of new closures slowed once price found footing near $75,400, the low printed early on September 16 — a floor the bulls must now defend.

Yields, Oil and a Stalled Crypto Bill

The forced-exit tally has clear drivers, and all three landed within roughly a day. The US 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.025% on September 15, its highest print since 2007, forcing a broad repricing of risk across assets. Brent crude pushed above $107 as attacks on shipping and a Saudi pipeline disruption tightened supply expectations. And the CLARITY Act — the US market-structure bill meant to define federal oversight of digital assets — failed to reach the Senate's 60-vote threshold the same session, a defeat detailed in our Senate fails 60-vote CLARITY Act hurdle report. Bitcoin (BTC) slid toward $75,400 on the combination, its weakest print since the September 4 high of $81,731 — a 7.8% peak-to-trough swing across 14 days, the kind of range cycle watchers follow with our Bitcoin Rainbow Chart guide. Equities sent the same signal: the S&P 500 shed 0.4% to 5,585.73, the Dow lost 0.6% to 52,093.11, and the Nasdaq dropped 0.8% to 25,981.57 as AI-security worries compounded the oil pressure. The Federal Reserve's FOMC meeting opened the same day, with markets pricing a 92% probability of a quarter-point hike. Every major token fell with the tape: Solana (SOL) lost 5.19% to $97.10, while XRP led the top ten lower with a 9.16% drop to $1.29 — weakness across the altcoin market that added its own share to the $666 million figure, since thinner liquidity liquidates altcoin longs faster. Sentiment tracked the tape. The Fear and Greed Index fell 18 points to 51, back in neutral territory after eight sessions oscillating between 51 and 69. Leveraged longs who tried to HODL through the squeeze had no say in the matter; margin engines do not wait for conviction. Until the bill returns to the floor — our Senate blocks CLARITY Act 49-50 report tracks the vote — the mechanical risk that built the $666 million tally stays in place. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Gate.

$76,992 Resistance Rated 80/100

Per-asset breakdowns of the 24-hour perpetual-futures liquidation tally, published after the cascade, show Bitcoin (BTC) carried $231.03 million of the forced closures with 83.68% of its liquidations from longs, while Ethereum absorbed $219.58 million at an even heavier 87.9% long ratio. XRP — already the worst performer in the top ten — registered $34.61 million in forced exits, 84.58% of them bullish positions. The figures confirm the squeeze's concentration: all three assets skewed overwhelmingly toward long-side unwinds, with ETH's near-88% ratio the highest of the majors, reinforcing the picture of a book crowded bullish heading into the session.

The post-vote unwind has a clearer origin story: positioning had swollen earlier in the week after reports that President Donald Trump was willing to make concessions on the bill's ethics provisions, lifting bitcoin from about $77,000 to nearly $80,000 on Monday. That rally reversed roughly 24 hours before the vote once reports circulated that Democrats were still holding the line, and the outcome confirmed it. CoinGlass data now peg the long-side wipeout at about $571 million — the highest tally since Aug. 22 — against roughly $100 million in shorts, with bitcoin and ether longs each losing around $190 million. XRP longs shed about $30 million and Solana about $22 million. Notably, analysts had flagged ether and DeFi tokens as the assets most likely to outperform bitcoin had the Senate advanced the bill, and regulatory momentum now shifts to the CFTC and SEC, which can still pursue their own rulemaking. Bitcoin held near $75,700, still within its range.

Spot ETF flows added a fresh layer to the unwind: US spot Bitcoin ETFs posted $450.4 million in net outflows on September 15, per Farside Investors data, with Fidelity's FBTC leading at $214.8 million and BlackRock's IBIT at $161.7 million — the two funds together accounting for roughly 84% of the day's total. GBTC shed $44.1 million, ARKB $17.4 million and BITB $12.4 million, a sharp reversal from the $159.9 million inflow recorded just one day earlier. Ether ETFs added $142.3 million of outflows on top, led by $98 million from ETHA, bringing combined BTC and ETH fund redemptions to about $592.7 million. Separately, the Senate's official roll-call shows Tillis switched to a no vote in a procedural move preserving a later push for reconsideration, and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the SEC and CFTC already have the tools to deliver clear rules under existing authority.

(as of 06:57 UTC) COINOTAG's proprietary 42-indicator composite S/R scoring engine frames the setup. The live spot reads $75,925, down 1.68% in 24 hours, capped by a $76,992 resistance the engine rates 74/100 on the confluence of Value Area High, a MACD cross, the ATR upper band and the Bollinger middle band. First support sits at $73,543, scored 86/100 from an HVN, the 0.382 Fibonacci and Supertrend; losing it shifts the focus to $70,952, rated 74/100, with $68,650 next at 65/100. Derivatives positioning stays constructive: funding is positive at 0.0065%, open interest stands at $15.25 billion, and the long/short account ratio runs 1.90 (65.5% long). With RSI at 49.26 and sentiment neutral at 51, only a reclaim of $76,992 resets the count toward $78,320.