Liquidations, explained

Source

CoinGlass

twelve major exchanges, added up

Assets covered

5

BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, BNB

Intervals

1h – 1w

the longer the bar, the further back it reaches

Shows

Dollar totals

the reported figures, unscored

Forced position closures. When a leveraged trader's margin — the deposit backing the position — runs out because price has moved far enough against them, the exchange automatically closes that position at whatever price the market is offering. The forced order itself pushes price further in the same direction, which is what creates the sharp spikes you see on this chart.

Each bar on the chart is the total dollar value of positions liquidated in that period, split into two directions from a zero line: long liquidations (green, growing upward) are leveraged longs getting force-closed, which happens when price drops. Short liquidations (red, growing downward) are leveraged shorts getting force-closed, which happens when price rips up. Price is overlaid on its own axis so you can line the flushes up with the move that caused them.

A single forced closure has to go through immediately, at whatever price is available. When enough leveraged positions sit clustered near the same price level, one closure can push price into the next cluster's liquidation point, forcing another wave of closures, which pushes price further still. That feedback loop is the cascade, and it is what produces the sudden spikes on this chart rather than a smooth, gradual bleed.

It also explains why the biggest bars tend to be isolated events rather than a steady drip. Most of the time the chart is quiet — leverage unwinding one position at a time, barely visible. A cascade only forms when a move is sharp enough, and clustered enough leverage sits in its path, to feed on itself.

This chart is built on CoinGlass's figures, summed across twelve major venues — Binance, OKX, Bybit, Bitget, Gate, HTX, Hyperliquid, Coinbase, Kraken, Bitmex, Bitfinex and CoinEx. Five assets are covered: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP and BNB. The price overlay comes from a separate source and is lined up with the nearest liquidation bar, so the two read together on one chart.

You can switch the bar interval from 1h up to 1w. Every setting shows the same number of bars, so the trade-off is direct: 1-hour bars cover roughly 41 days in fine detail, while 1-week bars stretch back around six years in much coarser strokes. Stretches from before liquidation data existed — where both the long and short totals are zero — are left off rather than drawn as real zeroes.

The 24-hour stat boxes above the chart and the per-exchange table below it come from CoinGlass's per-venue figures, showing which exchanges took the damage over the last day and whether longs or shorts got hit hardest.

No. Unlike the cycle-timing and on-chain indicators on this site, Liquidations has no colour-coded zone, no threshold and no 0–100 score layered on top of it. What you see is the long and short dollar totals exactly as CoinGlass reports them.

A liquidation spike tells you leverage just got flushed out. It never tells you the flush is finished.

This is where the chart gets practical for shorter-term traders. Extreme liquidation spikes often mark local tops and bottoms, because they represent one side of the market getting flushed out all at once:

A massive long-liquidation spike during a sharp drop often marks a short-term bottom. The over-leveraged longs have just been forced out, selling pressure is exhausted, and the market frequently bounces. Traders watching for a long entry look for the flush, then signs of price stabilizing.

A massive short-liquidation spike during a sharp rally often marks a short-term top — a short squeeze. The shorts have just been forced out, the upside fuel is spent, and the move frequently stalls or reverses. Traders use this to take profit, avoid chasing the top, or watch for a short setup.

Treat both as high-probability zones to watch for an entry, confirmed by price action, not as automatic buy or sell signals. The bigger and more isolated the spike, the more meaningful the read.

Liquidations is a market-stress gauge — a read on the moments when one side of the market gives up all at once. It says nothing about valuation, what holders are doing with their coins, or whether an asset is cheap — for that, this site's cycle-timing and on-chain indicators are the better read. What it shows is when borrowed money on one side of the market just got forcibly cleared, which is why cascades so often line up with short-term turning points: once the over-leveraged side is gone, the fuel for that leg of the move is largely spent.

It also isn't one of the 14 weighted inputs behind the Bitcoin or Ethereum Heatmeter score — it is a standalone read. It pairs most naturally with open interest — the total value of futures positions currently open — and funding rate: a flush that sharply drops open interest means leverage genuinely reset — a cleaner setup for a reversal — while a flush with open interest still elevated means there is more leverage left to unwind. Read the three together and you get a fuller picture of market stress than any one of them shows alone.

Others in market structure — How much borrowed money is in the market, which way bets are leaning, and where money is moving.

• Altcoin Season IndexCoinGlass’s published 0–100 rotation index, with 80 and above marking Altcoin Season and 20 and below Bitcoin Season.
• Altcoin Strength IndexA weekly 0–100 score for altcoins against Bitcoin, where 0 means historically cheap and 100 historically expensive.
• Bull Market ProgressHow far roughly thirty cycle-peak indicators have travelled toward their historical top readings.
• Funding RateWhat leveraged traders pay to hold their positions — the cost of crowd consensus.
• Open InterestHow much leverage is outstanding across futures venues, and which exchanges hold it.

Every indicator we track — the full glossary.