The Real Scale of Liquidations in the Crypto Market on 'Black Monday' Exceeds $10 Billion
The volume of liquidations in the cryptocurrency market on February 3rd reached record levels — according to data from Bybit’s CEO, Ben Zhou, the total amount was about $10 billion.
The extensive correction affected over 730,000 traders. On the Bybit exchange, the volume of liquidations exceeded $2.1 billion, which is significantly more than the data from CoinGlass, which recorded a total volume of $2.25 billion. This statistic does not include data from many other major exchanges, which significantly underestimates the real figures.
Reasons for the Statistical Discrepancy
The head of Bybit explained the data difference by the technical limitations of exchange APIs. Platforms limit the transmission of information to optimize systems, which creates reporting distortions. For instance, CoinGlass showed liquidations on Bybit amounting to $333 million — only a sixth of the real volume. In response, the exchange announced the publication of full liquidation data without restrictions to increase market transparency and improve analytics quality.
Global Context
Mass liquidations occurred after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order to impose import tariffs on goods from China, Canada, and Mexico. These actions provoked serious concerns about a possible trade war and increased volatility in all financial markets, including the cryptocurrency sector.
Major Operations
The largest liquidation order was recorded on Binance — a position on the ETH/BTC pair amounted to $25.6 million. Meanwhile, some traders managed to profit from the market fall — one of them earned nearly $16 million on a short position with a 50x leverage on Ethereum, demonstrating the potential of professional trading even in extreme volatility conditions.
The current situation highlighted the need to improve the liquidation monitoring system in the cryptocurrency industry. Bybit’s initiative to disclose full data could be a significant step in developing market infrastructure and establishing new transparency standards. This is especially important for institutional investors who require access to accurate information to make informed trading decisions.