BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP record double-digit losses as crypto liquidations surpass $2.5B

BTC, ETH, BNB, and XRP prices continued their freefall on Friday, triggering over $2.5 billion in liquidations across leveraged markets.

According to data from crypto.news, Bitcoin (BTC) price fell 18% from Thursday’s high of $73,639 to an intraday low of $60,255 on Friday morning. This marked its lowest level since October 2024. While it has recovered from part of its losses, trading around $64,600 at press time, it remains 34% below this year’s high of $97,538.

Ethereum (ETH) price fell 10% to a nine-month low of $1,756 before settling at a little above $1,900, down 10% over the past 24 hours. The largest altcoin by market cap had fallen 43.6% from its yearly high. BNB (BNB) fell under $600 before recovering the support zone and standing 11% lower on the day.

Other large-cap cryptocurrencies such as XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Cardano (ADA) remained with losses ranging between 12-16%. Some of the top laggards of the day were LEO Token (LEO), Monero (XMR), and Official Trump (TRUMP). Altogether, the crypto market fell 8.2% to $2.27 trillion at the time of writing.

The market drop triggered massive liquidations across leveraged markets. Data from CoinGlass shows that over $2.6 billion worth of positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours, with $2.31 billion, roughly 89%, stemming from long positions. 

Bitcoin led the carnage with $1.08 billion in long wipeouts, followed by Ethereum at nearly $455 million. In total, approximately 590,810 traders were liquidated, including a single $12 million position on Binance.

The primary catalysts triggering today’s liquidations were Bitcoin’s drop below $70,000 and subsequently $65,000, where large clusters of leveraged long positions were located.

When a leading asset loses major key support levels where bullish bets are concentrated, they trigger forced sell orders, which can quickly develop into a liquidation cascade that is a self-reinforcing loop of falling prices. Bitcoin’s sharp decline effectively pulled the floor out from under other large-cap digital assets.

Notably, the largest crypto asset has fallen over 20% so far this week as it suffers from the weakness in U.S. tech stocks such as Microsoft, AMD, and Nvidia.

Microsoft shares stood over 8% lower in the past five days, while chip-making giants AMD and Nvidia shares were down 18.5% and 10%, respectively, over the same period. These declines come amid disappointing earnings and concerns related to heavy AI infrastructure spending. AI-based cryptocurrencies have been some of the leading losers of the day, with the sector as a whole down 42% in the past 24 hours.

Risk sentiment was also hurt as investors reacted to weak U.S. jobs data, including rising unemployment claims that raise doubts about sustained economic strength and potential Fed caution on aggressive rate cuts this year.

Waning institutional demand has added another layer of pressure to already fragile retail confidence. Most notably, spot Bitcoin ETFs faced a brutal three-day streak of outflows, with investors pulling over $1.2 billion from the funds. 

Compounding this bearish momentum, World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture backed by the Trump family, reportedly offloaded more than $5 million in Bitcoin holdings just a day before the crash.

In the midst of the market bloodbath, the Crypto Fear and Greed Index plunged to a score of 9 on Friday, signaling extreme fear among investors and marking the lowest level recorded in over three and a half years. The last time the sentiment score fell this low was during the catastrophic Terra blockchain collapse of 2022.