Leveraged traders betting on a crypto rebound lost roughly $563 million in the past 24 hours, according to a CoinDesk report published early Sunday. Ether positions took the heaviest damage, with bitcoin longs in second place, as both assets extended their weekly slide.
The numbers from the market snapshot tell the story behind the liquidation wave. As of May 18, 2026, bitcoin trades near $76,886, down 1.5% on the day and 4.8% over the past week. Ether sits at $2,119, off 3.1% in 24 hours and 9.2% over seven days. Solana has fallen 11.2% on the week to $84.85. The CoinMarketCap Fear and Greed index reads 39, in Fear territory.
A leverage flush, not a structural break
A $563M liquidation print is large enough to matter but does not yet rank among the year's worst single-day events. Liquidations of this size typically happen when traders pile into long positions after a bounce attempt, then get caught when the bid disappears. The pattern lines up with the previous week's price action, where short-lived rallies in BTC and ETH faded into lower lows.
The asymmetry between long and short liquidations is the more interesting detail. CoinDesk's report attributes most of the damage to long positions, which means the market punished traders who positioned for a rebound rather than those who positioned for further downside. That is consistent with a market still in a corrective phase rather than one that has bottomed.
Ether is the bigger casualty
Ether's 3.1% daily drop and 9.2% weekly drop explain why ETH longs took the worst of it. Leverage on ETH perp markets has stayed elevated even as spot has weakened, which is the classic setup for an outsized liquidation cluster on any sharp move. ETH/BTC has also been testing yearly lows, a backdrop we covered in our ETH/BTC ratio piece earlier this week.
Solana, despite its 11.2% weekly drawdown, drew a smaller share of the liquidation tape, mostly because open interest in SOL perps is materially smaller than in BTC or ETH.
The third stress signal in a week
The liquidation wave is the third distinct stress signal we have seen in the past few days. US spot bitcoin ETFs bled roughly $1 billion in a single week as inflation fears pulled institutional capital out. Markets sold off broadly as global crisis tripwires flashed across rates, credit, and energy. The $563M liquidation print is the leveraged-trader version of the same story: positions sized for a rebound got squeezed when the rebound never arrived.
Polymarket has been pricing meaningful downside odds. Traders there recently put 60% odds on bitcoin printing below $75,000, a level now only about 2.5% away.
Practical reading of the tape
Three things to watch this week:
- Whether ETH can hold $2,100. A decisive break opens up the $1,950 to $2,000 zone, where prior accumulation sat.
- Whether BTC defends $75,000. A loss of that level would validate the Polymarket positioning and likely trigger another round of long liquidations.
- Fund flow data on US spot BTC and ETH ETFs. Another week of $500M-plus outflows would mean institutional capital is still net leaving, not buying the dip.
A 39 reading on Fear and Greed is not yet capitulation. Past local bottoms have come closer to the 20-25 zone, where buying pressure tends to return.
Overview
Crypto traders lost about $563 million in the past 24 hours per CoinDesk, with leveraged long positions on ether and bitcoin taking the worst of the damage. The wipeout coincides with a broader risk-off move that has pushed BTC down 4.8% and ETH down 9.2% on the week. Fear and Greed sits at 39, well into Fear territory. The market is in a corrective phase driven by leverage flushes and ETF outflows rather than a structural break, but key support levels at $75,000 for BTC and $2,100 for ETH will determine whether this stabilizes or extends.
