Ethereum’s breakout past $4,800 triggered nearly $388 million in liquidations tied to the token in the past 24 hours, data shows, marking the heaviest flush across all crypto assets.
The wipeout was part of $769 million liquidated marketwide, with over 183,000 traders forced out of positions. The single biggest hit was a $10 million ETH swap order on OKX, an unusually high figure for the token, which is often second to bitcoin-based positions.
Liquidations serve as a stark reminder of how fragile positioning can be in the crypto market. When traders pile in with leverage and the market moves against them, exchanges step in and automatically close those bets.
A flush of long liquidations can reset the market for a cleaner bounce, while a cluster of short wipes can fuel the next leg higher.
The move came as ether surged almost 15% to a record $4,885 after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested rate cuts could arrive in September. Bitcoin lagged with a 4% gain to $113,000, while the CoinDesk 20 Index climbed 9%.
Analysts say the rally isn’t just a macro trade. Institutional buying and treasury allocations have added a tailwind, feeding speculation that Ethereum could become Wall Street’s preferred blockchain.
“Ether’s new all-time high is a clear sign of investor demand beyond just bitcoin,” said Samir Kerbage, chief investment officer at Hashdex, said in an email to CoinDesk. “I would expect ETH to surpass $10k once we start to see stablecoin solutions being implemented for payments within the U.S.”
That $10,000 target, once deemed overly optimistic, is increasingly voiced as Ethereum cements itself as the backbone for stablecoins, tokenization, and smart contracts. The year-to-date gain for ETH now stands at 45%.