Perpetual Shorts Clear $311.76M in Ethereum (ETH) Across Major Exchanges in 24 Hours

Ethereum Shorts Absorb the Largest Hit

Leveraged shorts were on the wrong side of a one-sided deleveraging wave that swept the decentralized exchange and centralized perpetual markets alike over the past 24 hours: cross-exchange derivatives data compiled as of 06:55 UTC on September 12, 2026, shows $588.79 million in forced position closures across the top 20 crypto instruments, and Ethereum (ETH) absorbed the single largest share at $311.76 million. The aggregate was anything but even. Short liquidations — the automatic closure of bearish bets when prices rise against them — totaled $351.97 million, or 59.78% of everything flushed, roughly 1.5 times the $236.82 million in long positions closed out against falling marks. That imbalance is the classic signature of a short squeeze, not a crash: the selling pressure came from margin engines force-buying back borrowed coins, not from spot holders exiting.

Behind Ethereum, Bitcoin (BTC) logged $184.25 million in closures, with shorts a narrow 51% majority. Solana (SOL) followed at $25.10 million, where longs took 51% of the damage — the only top-four asset where bulls, not bears, paid the bill. Zcash (ZEC) recorded $17.04 million with 64% from shorts, XRP $13.75 million with 63% from longs, and SanDisk (SNDK), a traditional-equity perp listing, drew $7.66 million with longs at 72%. Hyperliquid's HYPE token saw $6.08 million (54% shorts) and Dogecoin (DOGE) $5.16 million (51% shorts) round out the table.

Bitcoin Steadies Near $77.3K

Prices inside the window explain the direction of the damage. Bitcoin traded at $77,285, up just 0.05% over the 24 hours, while Ethereum gained 2.16% to $2,520 — modest-looking moves, but enough to trigger cascading margin calls on short stacks stacked at similar entry levels. Among the majors, SOL added 2.04%, ZEC 2.65% and XRP 0.87%, while HYPE slipped 1.39%. As of publication, spot Bitcoin changes hands near $77,348 and Ethereum near $2,525, so the squeeze left barely a mark on spot prices. Two caveats matter for anyone reconciling these totals with other trackers: the figures cover only the top-20 assets on the leading exchange table, not the full market, and quotes are benchmarked against CoinMarketCap pricing — different exchange and product coverage will always produce different sums. Mechanically, a liquidation is the forced closure of a position whose collateral no longer covers its notional risk; venues run their own margin engines, and whether collateral sat on-platform or was bridged in from a self-custodied crypto wallet makes no difference once the maintenance threshold breaks. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Bitget.

Squeeze Losses Already Settled

Our reading of the liquidation record is that this was orderly deleveraging, not distress: prices rose, over-shorted books paid, and spot staking holders were untouched. For the affected accounts there is nothing pending — margin engines settled the losses in real time, and, as the primary cross-exchange record shows, no venue has announced any reimbursement, review or goodwill program for liquidated traders, nor is one owed under standard terms. Squeeze losses are final the moment the engine closes the position, which is why disciplined sizing — the same instinct that draws conservative capital toward gold rather than 20x perps — remains the only real protection.