Review of the 10/11 Crypto Flash Crash: The Truth Behind $20 Billion in Liquidations

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Forty-eight hours have passed, and many still haven’t recovered from the October 11 crypto market flash crash. $20 billion in assets vanished into thin air — truly shocking. Data show that Bitcoin briefly lost the $110,000 level, Ethereum plunged more than 17%, and various altcoins suffered declines to varying degrees. In the past 24 hours alone, nearly $20 billion in positions were liquidated across the network, with over 1.65 million traders liquidated.

In the early hours of October 11, 2025, the crypto market experienced yet another heart-stopping flash crash. Within just a few hours, global liquidations neared $20 billion, and over 1.65 million traders faced forced liquidations. Bitcoin briefly fell below $110,000, Ethereum dropped over 17%, and the altcoin market was in utter distress — XRP and Dogecoin each plunged over 30% at one point. The turmoil shook not only crypto but also traditional markets: all three major U.S. stock indices hit one-month lows, crude oil printed a five-month low, while gold rose against the tide as a haven.

This flash crash resulted from a combination of factors: macroeconomics, internal market leverage, stablecoin depegs, and whale activity. This article reviews the event, analyzes market drivers, and offers investor strategies to help readers understand the logic behind the volatility and adopt safer, more efficient asset-management tools.

 

10.11 Flash Crash Recap

1. Overview of Flash Crash Data

According to Coinglass, within 24 hours in the early hours of October 11, total liquidations reached $19.279 billion, including $16.794 billion in long liquidations and $2.485 billion in short liquidations. Hyperliquid became the “hardest-hit area” this round: its ETH-USDT contract saw a single liquidation as large as $203 million, with $642 million USDC in net outflows for the day; total AUM dropped from $6.0 billion USDC at the end of September to around $5.1 billion USDC.

Specific data log：

• Bitcoin (BTC): Fell to as low as $102,000; –12.7% max drop in 30 minutes; then rebounded slightly to $112,000; down about 7.8% on the day.
• Ethereum (ETH): Fell to $3,435; –14.3% max 30-minute drop; down about 12% on the day.
• Major altcoins:

XRP, Dogecoin each briefly fell over 30%
BCH down 11.38% in 24h
LINK down over 21%
AAVE down over 22%
ADA down over 24%
SUI down over 26%
DYDX down as much as 45%

Total crypto market cap fell to $3.84T, down about 9.35% in 24 hours. BTC dominance: 58.45%; ETH dominance: 13.46%.

2. Synchronized Moves in Global Markets

This crypto flash crash wasn’t isolated. All three major U.S. stock indices hit one-month lows; the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their biggest daily drops in half a year; the Dow fell for five consecutive sessions. The ICE Dollar Index (DXY) fell over 0.7%, and the U.S. 10-year benchmark yield broke below 4.04%. Crude oil closed at a five-month low, its largest drop in three months. Gold rose instead, with NY gold futures up nearly 1.7% and spot gold up nearly 1.2%, becoming the preferred safe haven.

3. Immediate Triggers Behind the Event

(1) Renewed U.S.–China trade tensions

China added five rare earths to export controls and expanded restrictions on refining technologies and overseas military/semiconductor applications. Trump then announced an additional 100% tariff on Chinese exports to the U.S. and imposed key software export controls. This string of headlines sparked fear, directly triggering simultaneous declines in crypto and global equities.

(2) Exchange system stress

During the flash crash, many exchanges experienced high load and latency:

• Binance: Spiking activity caused short-term delays; the insurance fund fell from $1.23B to $1.04B to address extreme conditions.
• Hyperliquid: Despite record volumes, systems remained stable; the HLP vault earned over $40M in a single day.
• Backpack, Lighter: Saw order lag, latency, and vault drawdowns but recovered quickly.
• OKX, Uniswap: Stable operations; smooth processing; no major outages.

Exchange stability directly affected how selling pressure propagated and highlighted differences in risk-management capabilities across platforms.

(3) Excess leverage and market-maker dislocations

An early-October rally drew in heavy leverage. The flash crash set off auto-liquidation cascades, compounded by exchange outages and market-maker failures, causing extreme, momentary price air-pockets. Several tokens — USDe, WBETH, WBTC and other stablecoin-like or derivative assets — depegged, further intensifying panic.

(4) Whale activity

On-chain data show certain whale accounts were unusually active during the drop:

• A Hyperliquid whale closed BTC and ETH shorts near the lows, netting roughly $200M in profit.
• Another whale, with short positions established on September 22, partially took profit during the October 11 move, realizing $78.56M.
• Multiple whales amplified short-term volatility, creating a “snowball” cascade.

History shows whales can magnify market swings in extreme conditions, drawing in retail panic selling and accelerating flash crashes.

Stablecoin Depegging Events

USDe, WBETH, BNSOL, and others depegged under stress:

• We USDe: Fell to as low as $0.6567. Secondary-market price fluctuated, but mint/redemptions remained normal and over-collateralization was maintained.
• WBETH, BNSOL: Briefly deviated from pegs, triggering forced liquidations.
• Exchange responses: Binance pledged compensation for affected users within 72 hours and enhanced index calculations and risk-parameter reviews to prevent recurrences.

Depegs revealed latent risks from high-leverage collateral, oracle/feed mechanisms, and insufficient exchange arbitrage efficiency, reminding investors to pay extra attention to risk management in extreme markets.

Performance Divergence: CEX, DEX, and DeFi Platforms Amid Turmoil

• Hyperliquid: Fully on-chain system ran stably; single-day peak volumes hit records with no system latency; HLP vault return exceeded 10%.
• Binance: Periods of high load and some user delays; $188M of the insurance fund deployed to address tail risk; compensation program initiated.
• Backpack, Lighter: Brief order-handling and vault anomalies under traffic shocks, now recovered.
• Aster, edgeX, ParaDEX: Operated normally throughout or outperformed market-average returns, showcasing decentralized platforms’ resilience under pressure.

The contrast suggests decentralized platforms offer higher transparency and operational stability in extremes, while centralized platforms still rely on insurance funds and human intervention at peak load.

Multiple Institutions and Analysts Remain Optimistic for the Short Term and the Quarter

• Institutional inflows: Bitwise’s CIO indicated record Q4 inflows into Bitcoin ETFs — long-term bullish for BTC.
• Gold and havens: Geopolitical and tariff risks have boosted safe-haven demand for gold and Bitcoin.
• ETFs and staking: Ethereum ETFs enabling staking will reduce circulating supply and increase long-term demand.
• Whales and leverage: Short-term profit-taking may keep volatility elevated, but long-term holders and institutional capital support market stabilization.

Investor strategies to consider:

• Keep positions moderate; control leverage risk.
• Track liquidity and collateral mechanisms of stablecoins and high-leverage assets.
• Diversify platforms and asset allocations to reduce exchange concentration risk.
• Monitor macro policy, geopolitics, and sentiment — adjust flexibly.

Conclusion

The 10.11 flash crash again reminds investors that crypto is highly leveraged and structurally fragile. Exchange systems, whale operations, stablecoin depegs, and macro factors can all spark extreme moves. Despite sharp short-term swings, there remain supportive tailwinds: institutional inflows, ETF expansion, and ongoing market maturation.

Investors should synthesize market data, exchange performance, on-chain whale behavior, and the macro backdrop to craft robust strategies and guard against tail-risk scenarios.