Market history · Digital assets ·
The biggest liquidation day in crypto history
On Friday 10 October 2025 the crypto market saw what analysts described as its largest ever day of forced liquidations, with about $19 billion of leveraged positions closed out. CoinShares noted that real losses could have been much larger. The trigger was an announcement by President Trump of a 100% tariff on Chinese imports, which hit risk assets across markets.
Bitcoin fell from a Friday high of about $122,574 to as low as about $104,783, a drop of more than 14%. Many smaller tokens fell much further, helped along by thin trading and the automatic closing of leveraged trades, which pushes prices down and triggers more closures.
The day showed how borrowing amplifies moves in markets that never close and where liquidity can vanish quickly.
The takeaway
Leverage turns a price move into a forced sale. Assets that trade around the clock can still be hard to sell at a fair price in a hurry.
Sources
This is a retrospective about a past event, provided for general information. It is not investment advice, does not describe RockLake's positioning at the time, and past performance is not a guide to future performance. Read the risk warning.