Written By Lexx Thornton
A dramatic move by President Donald Trump to impose a 100% additional tariff on Chinese imports triggered a massive sell-off in the cryptocurrency market late last week, leading to the largest liquidation event in the history of digital assets. The shockwave from the escalating U.S.-China trade war revealed extreme leveraged risk in the crypto space, hitting major coins like Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana hardest.
According to data platform CoinGlass, total liquidations surpassed $19 billion as of late Friday, October 11, with over $7 billion of those leveraged positions wiped out in a single hour. This historic crash mirrored a broad retreat across traditional financial markets, as the Nasdaq and S&P 500 experienced their steepest declines in six months.
The Scale of the Damage
The forced closure of highly leveraged trading positions saw staggering losses across the top cryptocurrencies:
1. Bitcoin (BTC) saw an estimated $5 billion in liquidations, plunging from a recent all-time high of over $125,000 to briefly test the $103,000 level on Friday. It was trading around $111,600 as of the close of the weekend.
2. Ether (ETH) experienced approximately $4 billion in liquidations. Its price sank by over 14%, falling from about $4,365 to $3,742.
3. Solana (SOL) saw about $2 billion liquidated, suffering a nearly 20% drop from $223 to $178.
CoinGlass called the event the “largest liquidation event in crypto history,” affecting over 1.6 million traders.
The market turmoil began after Trump, in a social media post, announced the new tariff—on top of existing duties—and export controls on critical software. He stated the move was a direct response to China’s recent decision to ramp up export restrictions on rare earth minerals, materials essential for global manufacturing and technology.
This geopolitical flashpoint abruptly reversed a period of strong, crypto-friendly momentum spurred by the administration. Earlier this year, Trump had significantly softened his anti-crypto stance—moving from dismissing Bitcoin as “based on thin air” to engaging with crypto fans and launching his own meme coin. Just last week, Bitcoin had soared to a record high of $124,000 following an executive order that allowed digital assets to be included in 401(k) retirement plans.
Despite the short-term panic and record sell-off, some analysts maintain a cautiously optimistic outlook, noting that the market’s recovery over the weekend shows underlying resilience and that the correction could set the stage for the next leg of a bull cycle.
