Bitcoin's wild roller coaster ride leaves leveraged traders with $415 million in liquidations

Markets Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Bitcoin's wild roller coaster ride leaves leveraged traders with $415 million in liquidations Bitcoin swung from $67,500 to $71,200 and back to $70,000 in a single session as Trump said he was postponing Iran strikes, then Iran denied any communication was taking place. By Shaurya Malwa | Edited by Aoyon Ashraf Updated Mar 23, 2026, 1:06 p.m. Published Mar 23, 2026, 12:42 p.m. Make us preferred on Google What to know : More than $400 million in crypto positions were liquidated in four hours on Monday as traders were whipsawed by conflicting headlines about U.S.-Iran tensions. Bitcoin briefly surged from about $67,500 to above $71,200 after Donald Trump claimed he had ordered a five-day pause on strikes against Iranian power plants, then quickly pared gains when Iran denied any communication. The liquidations, led by bitcoin, ether and tokenized oil contracts, underscored how derivatives-heavy markets can turn modest net price moves into severe losses for leveraged traders when news shifts rapidly. Crypto market traders were whipsawed on both sides on Monday afternoon, with over $400 million in liquidations across long and short positions in the past 4 hours. Bitcoin spiked from $67,500 to above $71,200 on Monday afternoon after U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he had instructed the Pentagon to postpone all strikes against Iranian power plants for five days, saying the U.S. and Iran had "very good and productive conversations." Then Iran reportedly denied everything. "There is no direct or indirect communication with Trump," Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing an anonymous source, adding that Trump "retreated after hearing that our targets would be all power plants in West Asia." Bitcoin gave back roughly $1,200 from its high within minutes. CoinGlass data shows $415 million in liquidations in the four-hour window around the two headlines, with short liquidations accounting for $280 million and longs taking $135 million. The nearly 2-to-1 ratio suggests the market was heavily positioned for escalation when Trump's post landed. Of the total liquidations, bitcoin accounted for $140 million, ether at $120 million, and Brent oil futures on Hyperliquid at $64 million. Tokenized gold lost $20.9 million, while tokenized silver losses stood at $19.8 million Crypto liquidation. (CoinGlass/CoinDesk) Meanwhile, the oil liquidations were almost entirely one-sided. The XYZ:BRENTOIL contract on Hyperliquid saw $64.4 million wiped, with the vast majority hitting longs who had been positioning for Trump's 48-hour ultimatum to trigger an attack on Iran's power plants rather than a postponement. Those traders were right about the direction of the war but wrong about the direction of the next Truth Social post. Bitcoin spent the Asia session grinding between $67,500 and $68,500, ripped $3,700 higher in an hour on the Trump post, then faded $1,200 as Iran's denial hit. As of Monday evening, it was holding $70,000, up 2.3% on the day, sitting in the middle of a range it carved out in a few hours of headline-driven volatility. The session reinforced what the Binance futures-to-spot data flagged earlier this month. When derivatives dominate trading activity at 5x the volume of spot , every headline gets amplified through liquidation cascades in both directions. Shorts get squeezed on the de-escalation post, then longs get caught when the counter-headline arrives. The net movement ends up modest, but the damage to leveraged traders is not. 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