The latest cryptocurrency market sell-off has resulted in significantly higher liquidations than initially reported, with Bybit CEO Ben Zhou estimating the total wipeout to be between $8 billion and $10 billion.
This starkly contrasts with the widely cited $2 billion liquidation, which Zhou suggests is a conservative estimate due to API limitations across multiple exchanges.
Real liquidations could be four-fold than reported
The downturn, spurred by U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff announcement, triggered widespread fears of a prolonged global trade war, sending financial markets into turmoil and prompting investors to offload risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.
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Early reports from CoinGlass showed that total liquidations across all assets stood at roughly $2.4 billion, with Ethereum (ETH) taking the hardest hit, leading the liquidation spree with $617.35 million, followed by Bitcoin (BTC) at $441.8 million.
However, Zhou highlights that these figures significantly underrepresent real liquidation volumes due to exchange-level API restrictions. He estimates that actual liquidations across the crypto market stand ‘at least around $8 to 10 billion,’ far exceeding initial reports.
According to Zhou, Bybit alone recorded $2.1 billion in 24-hour liquidations, yet CoinGlass only reported $333 million due to technical limitations on how much data feeds are pushed out per second.
This discrepancy, according to him, exists across all major crypto exchanges, meaning the reported $2 billion liquidation is likely just a fraction of the actual liquidation data.
The Bigger picture: How severe is the crypto sell-off?
While reported figures suggest a $2 billion liquidation, Zhou’s comments imply that the real market damage may be four times larger.
According to crypto analyst CrypNuevo, if Zhou’s estimate of $8 billion to $10 billion in liquidations holds, the recent wipeout would surpass the combined liquidations from the COVID-19 market crash, the Terra (LUNA) collapse, and the FTX implosion.
“To see this with perspective… that would literally be more than COVID, Luna and FTX liquidations combined together, in just 24 hours.”
–CrypNuevo
With liquidity concerns rising and volatility spiking, traders remain on edge, questioning whether the market can stabilize or if another wave of liquidations is on the horizon.
Featured image via Shutterstock
