Liquidity evaporated during Oct. 10, 2025 crypto liquidation

Beincrypto reported that on Oct. 10, 2025 the crypto market suffered its largest liquidation event: in 25 minutes $19 billion in leveraged positions were wiped out, Bitcoin slid from $126,000 to $105,000, Ethereum fell 12%, and some altcoins lost more than half their value. Exchanges continued to show massive trading volume while order-book depth largely disappeared.

Perpetual futures volume remained high even as executable depth collapsed by more than 98%, spreads widened sharply — Bitcoin perpetual spreads reached roughly 26 basis points, about 1,200 times wider than usual — and small market orders experienced severe slippage as they consumed multiple price levels.

Research cited in the piece also noted that 70–95% of reported volume on some unregulated venues can come from wash trading. The report emphasised fragmentation: roughly 80% of liquidity sits on centralized exchanges and the rest on decentralized protocols, but traders interact only with a venue's local order book, so liquidity available elsewhere does not protect users when market makers pull back.

Key Topics

Crypto, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Perpetual Futures, Order Books, Market Makers