Crypto Bloodbath: Middle East Turmoil Triggers $1.15B Liquidation Tsunami
Digital assets got caught in the geopolitical crossfire today as escalating Middle East tensions sent shockwaves through crypto markets.
The liquidation massacre—
Leveraged positions got obliterated faster than a shitcoin project''s roadmap. Longs got rekt with the precision of a Wall Street ''correction'' (read: wealth transfer event).
Silver lining for degenerates—
Volatility is back, baby. Those DCA bots are about to feast like hedge funds at a Fed liquidity trough.
Remember folks: in crypto, we don''t say ''crash''—we call it ''a discount event for diamond hands.'' Now if you''ll excuse me, I need to check if my cold wallet still works.
Risk aversion increases as Middle East conflict escalates
The cryptocurrency markets continued to trade in the red on Friday, with Bitcoin (BTC) falling below $103,000 during the early Asian trading session. Major altcoins, such as ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and Solana (SOL), among others, followed the downward trend, crashing sharply that day.
The rising conflict in the Middle East fueled this correction. According to the Kobeissi Letter report on Friday, Iran says it will respond "harshly" against Israel and the US following tonight''s attacks. These ongoing geopolitical risks have triggered risk-off flows in the market, which do not bode well for riskier assets.
The Asian markets also tumble on this news, as major indexes trade down on Friday, as shown in The Graph below. However, safer assets like Gold continue to set new intraday highs, with XAU/USD nearing $3,444 following these headlines.
Asian stock indexes chart.
The effects of rising geopolitical tensions have triggered a wave of liquidation in the cryptocurrency markets. According to the CoinGlass Liquidation Map chart, a total of 249,178 traders were liquidated in the last 24 hours, resulting in a total liquidation value of $1.15 billion. The largest single liquidation order occurred on Binance, involving BTCUSDT, valued at $201.31 million.
Bitcoin saw over $448 million in liquidation, while Ethereum saw $288.40 million. Huge liquidations like this could spark Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) among investors and cause a rise in selling pressure, leading to further price declines.
Liquidation Heatmap chart. Source: Coinglass
