$61 million bitcoin whale liquidated on HTX as sentiment back at 'extreme fear'

Markets Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email $61 million bitcoin whale liquidated on HTX as sentiment back at 'extreme fear' The position was the largest single forced closure in 24 hours as bitcoin shed weekend gains and the fear index returned to historic lows. By Shaurya Malwa | Edited by Omkar Godbole Updated Feb 23, 2026, 6:31 a.m. Published Feb 23, 2026, 6:15 a.m. Make us preferred on Google What to know : Bitcoin plunged from about $68,600 on Saturday to $64,300 on Monday, erasing its weekend gains and triggering roughly $468 million in crypto futures liquidations, mostly from long positions. A single $61.5 million BTC-USDT liquidation on HTX and a plunge in the Crypto Fear and Greed Index to an "extreme fear" reading of 5 highlight mounting stress and capitulation among short-term bitcoin holders. With bitcoin now about 48% below its October record high and traders repeatedly reloading leveraged longs into brief rallies, analysts warn the cycle of sharp rallies, liquidations and resets is likely to persist. Bitcoin's BTC $ 65,431.11 price losses on Monday wiped out a massive leveraged bullish bet. The trade worth $61.5 million was forcibly closed by cryptocurrency exchange HTX, marking the largest single liquidation in the past 24 hours, according to data source Coinglass. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . The so-called liquidation happened as bitcoin slid from Saturday's $68,600 high back to $64,400, erasing the weekend's gains in a matter of hours. CoinDesk reached out to HTX for comment. The outsized hit — large enough to suggest a concentrated whale or fund position rather than a retail margin call — landed amid a broader wipeout that saw $467.64 million in total liquidations across 137,422 traders, according to CoinGlass. Long positions accounted for $434 million of that, roughly 93% of the total, pointing to a market that was still positioned for upside heading into the week and got flushed when bids disappeared. Bitcoin futures alone saw $213.62 million in forced closures, followed by ether (ETH) at $113.89 million and solana (SOL) at $19.89 million. Hyperliquid's HYPE token added another $10.72 million, a notable figure for an asset outside the usual top-five liquidation leaderboard. Fear reigns supreme The selloff dragged Alternative.me's Crypto Fear and Greed Index back to 5 out of 100, a reading categorized as "extreme fear" that has only been matched three times since the index launched in 2018: August 2019, June 2022, and earlier this month during bitcoin's slide to $60,000. Glassnode data reinforces the stress. The firm said Monday that the seven-day moving average for net realized losses among recent bitcoin buyers was still running near $500 million per day, meaning short-term holders are continuing to capitulate even after the initial February flush. "While the intensity has cooled, the broader regime still signals a market under pressure," Glassnode noted, "with participants in the base formation phase continuing to capitulate." Bitcoin now sits 48% below its October all-time high of $126,000 and 5.5% below its 2021 bull-market peak of $69,000 — a level that once felt like the ceiling and now looks like a floor that keeps getting tested. Monday's wreckage cleared leverage but the pattern remains intact: traders reload longs into every bounce, and the market keeps punishing them for it. Bitcoin News Htx More For You AI bot's tipping blunder hands $450,000 memecoin pile to X sad story poster By Omkar Godbole 16 minutes ago AI trading bot "Lobstar Wilde" accidentally sent a large coin stash to an X user in need of 4 SOL for medical treatment. What to know : An OpenAI engineer’s AI trading bot on X accidentally tipped a user roughly $450,000 worth of Lobstar memecoins instead of 4 solana (SOL). The recipient sold the coin stash, pocketing $40,000 in profit, according to SolScan data. The mishap has fueled both a 32 percent jump in Lobstar’s price and speculation on X that the episode was a staged publicity stunt to boost the token’s profile. 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