Binance Ethereum Liquidations Hit $106M in One Hour
More than $106 million in margin-funded Ethereum positions on Binance vanished within 60 minutes of the September CPI release, according to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost. The exchange saw the heaviest concentration of forced selling as Ethereum fell nearly 6% to about $2,350 on Wednesday. Total crypto liquidations reached $973 million over 24 hours, per CoinGlass, with ethereum liquidations leading the damage.
Long positions accounted for $894 million of the total, while shorts covered the remaining $78.5 million. Binance led all exchanges with $515 million in combined ethereum liquidations and bitcoin liquidations, followed by Hyperliquid at $141 million and Bybit at $101 million. Ethereum futures absorbed between $286 million and $292 million in liquidations, nearly 60% of the combined Bitcoin and Ethereum total. Bitcoin futures saw $197 million to $200 million wiped, even though Bitcoin's open interest stood at $52 billion compared to Ethereum's $30 billion.
The heavier Ethereum damage stemmed from its steeper price drop. Bitcoin fell roughly 3% to $81,000, while Ethereum's 6% decline forced more margin calls per dollar of open interest. Traders had built up high-margin long positions on both assets after positive funding rates pushed bullish bets ahead of an expected breakout above $84,000. The concentration of these positions made the selloff faster once forced liquidation thresholds were crossed.
Core Inflation Missed Forecasts by One-Tenth of a Percent
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported September core CPI at 2.6% annually and 0.3% monthly. Forecasts had called for 2.5% annual and 0.2% monthly. Headline CPI matched expectations at 3.7% annually and 0.6% monthly, up from August's 3.4% and 0.4%. The 0.1-percentage-point miss on core inflation reversed the week's tentative recovery in crypto markets.
Can-Luca Koymen at Sygnum Bank said the 0.3% core print put an October Federal Reserve rate hike back in play, though he still considers a hold more likely pending the PCE data. CME FedWatch showed about 77% probability of no change at the October 27-28 meeting. Crypto market capitalization fell 2.7% to $2.81 trillion, while trading volume rose 49% to $111 billion, per CoinGecko.
Bitcoin had already seen $820 million in liquidations days earlier during a separate downturn, and ETF outflows topped $1 billion in the same week. The combination of reduced passive ETF support and stretched derivatives positioning left high-exposure traders vulnerable when the core inflation figure arrived above forecasts. Gasoline prices rose 9.1% in September and drove more than half of the monthly headline increase. Ethereum staking yields averaged between 3% and 4%, making the funding cost of margin positions sensitive to any Fed tightening signal.