Liquidations jump to $547 million as oil rally hits crypto market — SkimNews
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- Bitcoin fell below $84,000 shortly after midnight UTC as Iran escalated tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, pushing Brent Crude above $101 a barrel and lifting Treasury yields and the dollar.
- Liquidations climbed 235% to $547 million over 24 hours per CoinGlass, including $174 million in ether positions as ETH slid 3.5% to around $2,600.
- Smaller tokens took heavier hits than majors, with the CoinDesk 80 down nearly 4% versus 2.5% for the CoinDesk 5; DeFi tokens lost almost 6% and the Memecoin Index roughly 5%.
- Optimism's OP fell 10% to lead the CoinDesk 100 lower after CoinDesk reported Pudgy Penguins' Abstract became the second Ethereum layer-2 to shut down in a week, with Mantle down ~10% and Arbitrum off ~7%.
- U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs took in $119 million on Tuesday — their fourth day of inflows in the last five sessions, per SoSoValue, even as spot selling accelerated.
- Derivatives positioning turned seller-heavy: futures volume rose 16% to $182.85 billion while open interest slipped just 1%, and shorts accounted for over 52% of taker volume, suggesting active repositioning rather than fresh bullish bets.
- Sand (SAND) bucked the trend for the second time in a week, rising 9% to top the CoinDesk 100 after a 37% jump on Oct. 2, with Stacks (STX) up 4% and Monero about 1%.
Why it matters: A geopolitical shock — Iranian tanker attacks pushing oil above $101 — infected crypto's derivatives market, wiping out $547 million in leveraged positions within 24 hours even as spot bitcoin ETFs absorbed $119 million of demand. Ether and layer-2 tokens absorbed the heaviest damage because ether's open interest broke above its May downtrend while Abstract's shutdown compounded selling, leaving perps skewed short and the gap between calm crypto volatility and rising bond volatility set to close.
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