XRP, AXS and DUSK could trigger major liquidations amid January volatility

Beincrypto reports that market-wide crypto liquidations neared $900 million at the start of the third week of January as tariff-driven volatility pushed traders into leveraged positions in several altcoins. XRP fell to $1.85 on January 19 before rebounding to $1.95, wiping out most of its year-to-date recovery.

Short-term traders appear increasingly bearish and a seven-day liquidation map shows potential short liquidations outweighing longs; if XRP rebounds to $2.29 this week, short positions could face more than $600 million in liquidations. CryptoQuant data also shows frequent large whale orders below $2.4, and "Whale interest is at a 2026 high.

Large orders are dominating the tapes, suggesting the “Smart Money” is front-running the next leg up," an analyst from CryptoQuant commented. Axie Infinity (AXS) has returned to top trending lists in the third week of January and is up more than 120% year-to-date, driven by the founders' plan to convert rewards into a new utility token, bAXS, as part of a tokenomics overhaul scheduled for 2026.

Key Topics

Crypto, Xrp, Axie Infinity, Dusk, Baxs, Trump