Bitcoin slid 4% to about $88,000 on Wednesday as a sharp leverage unwind ripped through crypto markets, adding fresh stress to a week already defined by risk aversion across stocks, bonds and currencies.
Spot gold surged past $4,800 an ounce for the first time, while silver also notched record highs, as investors kept leaning into havens during a broad “Sell America” style move that pressured the dollar.
Liquidation data from CoinGlass showed 181,570 traders got wiped out over the past 24 hours, taking total liquidations to $1.07B. Long positions took most of the damage, with $998.33M liquidated versus $71.39M in shorts.
Market snapshot
- Bitcoin: $88,942, down 4%
- Ether: $2,963, down 7.1%
- XRP: $1.90, down 3.8%
- Total crypto market cap: $3.09 trillion, down 3.9%
Bitcoin, Ether Dominate Liquidations As Equities Stay Under Pressure
Bitcoin and Ether accounted for the bulk of the forced selling. The heatmap showed $440.19M in Bitcoin liquidations and $392.38M in Ether, while the remaining tokens together tallied about $52.60M.
The risk mood also weighed on equities in Asia, where losses extended into a third session. MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index outside Japan fell 0.3% in early trade, and Japan’s Nikkei dropped 1.2%, marking a fifth straight decline.
Europe looked soft as well. Euro Stoxx 50 futures and DAX futures both slipped 0.4%, keeping traders on edge as they assessed the latest tariff timeline and its knock-on effects for global growth.
Wall Street Losses Deepen As Trump Doubles Down On Greenland
In the US, the previous session delivered the heaviest hit, with Wall Street sliding more than 2% overnight. The S&P 500 fell 2.06% and the Nasdaq Composite sank 2.4%, while Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures later steadied, up about 0.2% in early dealing.
That same flight to safety kept pushing bullion higher. Trade tensions stayed at the centre of the story. President Donald Trump doubled down on his Greenland rhetoric, saying there was “no going back” on his goal to control the island, and his tariff threats toward Europe revived fears of a wider trade war.
Policymakers in Europe prepared their response, with the European Union set to hold an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday and leaders weighing options that include tariffs worth 93B euros, $109B, on US imports.
Koinly CEO Robin Singh said February has historically been Bitcoin’s month, averaging double-digit gains over the past decade. “But underperformance wouldn’t be surprising, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing,” he said.
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