A fresh deleveraging wave swept through the cryptocurrency market over the past 24 hours, with roughly $1.16 billion in leveraged positions liquidated, according to figures reported by COINOTAG on October 9, 2026.

Long traders absorbed the bulk of the flush. Approximately $1.05 billion of the total liquidation volume — roughly nine of every ten dollars — came from positions betting on further upside, and the forced unwinding amplified a selloff that pushed Bitcoin (BTC) below $81,000 during the session.

Ethereum (ETH) recorded the largest single-asset losses of the episode, with approximately $356 million in liquidations, leading the market-wide flush.

Liquidations occur when an exchange forcibly closes a trader's leveraged position because the remaining margin no longer covers the exposure. In declining markets, long positions are closed automatically as collateral is exhausted, and the resulting forced selling can add further downward pressure on prices. Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest digital assets by market capitalization, typically account for the largest share of liquidation volume during periods of heightened market volatility, in part because they are the most widely used margin assets across major crypto derivatives venues.

The long-side skew of this flush also serves as a gauge of positioning heading into the selloff, illustrating how accumulated leverage can magnify a price decline into a cascading unwinding once margin calls trigger in succession. Because these tallies count only derivatives positions closed by exchanges — not spot-market sales — the $1.16 billion figure is best read as a measure of leverage cleared from the system rather than the market's full trading activity during the session.

This content was first published on COINOTAG: Ethereum (ETH) Leads $1.16B Crypto Liquidation Flush With $356M in Losses