Fed's Rate Limbo Hands Crypto a $1B Haircut — Ether Gets the Bigger Trim ✂️

Nearly $483 million in bitcoin and ether futures positions were forcibly closed over 24 hours as cryptocurrency prices slid Thursday, pushing the broader cross-asset liquidation tally close to $1 billion, according to CoinGlass data checked during Asian morning hours. Uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's next interest-rate decision drove the move, with traders unwinding leveraged bets across major tokens.

Bitcoin traded around $81,000, down roughly 3% over the period, while ether lost more than 6% to about $2,350. Ether fell 6.4% to $2,356 and bitcoin slipped roughly 3.2%, per the same data set. XRP and Solana's $SOL each fell around 5%, and dogecoin dropped roughly 6%.

Ether contracts accounted for about $286 million of the liquidations, compared with $197 million for bitcoin, even though ether's futures market is considerably smaller. Outstanding ether contracts totaled about $30 billion, against $52 billion for bitcoin. Liquidations occur when traders using borrowed money see a price move leave them without enough collateral to keep positions open, prompting the exchange to close the position automatically; a trader using $1,000 to control a $10,000 position, for example, can lose their backing on a move of less than 10% against them. The figures measure the value of positions closed rather than the cash traders personally lost.

Selling extended into smaller tokens. Solana futures recorded about $31 million in liquidations as $SOL fell roughly 5.5%, and Zcash contracts added nearly $19 million with $ZEC dropping about 13%. $BTC and $ETH led the cross-cascade as bearish positioning overwhelmed bullish conviction ahead of the Fed's next signal.