Share this article
Crypto Market Sees $300M Liquidations as Trump Tariff Threats Flush Late Bulls
The leverage flush happened as crypto prices quickly dropped on renewed trade war fears, with BTC slipping 3% from near record highs.
Updated May 23, 2025, 5:27 p.m. Published May 23, 2025, 1:53 p.m.
What to know:
- Over $300 million in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated after Trump's tariff threats, CoinGlass shows.
- Bitcoin and major altcoins fell 3% to 4% following the proposed tariffs.
- Hyperliquid trader "James Wynn," making news for opening a $1.1 billion BTC long bet, currently sitting on $7.5 million unrealized losses on the trading position.
Crypto traders betting on a steady bitcoin rally got a sharp reminder of headline risk from Donald Trump's latest tariff threats.
Over $300 million worth of leveraged derivatives positions were liquidated across centralized exchanges in the past four hours, according to CoinGlass data, as crypto prices plunged following the news.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Nearly all liquidations came from long positions—traders betting on higher prices. BTC longs accounted for $107 million of the total, while Ethereum's ether followed with close to $87 million. Other tokens, including Solana's SOL , dogecoin , and SUI saw liquidations ranging between $10 million and $18 million.
"Nice aggregate flush of long leverage and de-risk selling from spot," well-followed crypto trader Skew noted in an X post early Friday. "All driven by headlines once again."
The sell-off came after Trump proposed a 50% tariff on imports from the European Union starting next month, along with a 25% tariff on iPhones manufactured outside the U.S., reigniting fears of an escalating trade war.
As a result, BTC and major altcoins such as Ether , XRP , and Cardano fell 3% to 4%, while smaller-cap tokens like Uniswap and SUI dropped 5% to 7% over the past 24 hours.
Crypto trader named James Wynn, who gained attention recently opening a $1.1 billion BTC long bet with 40x leverage on the Hyperliquid exchange, also slipped underwater on the massive position. Currently, the trader is sitting on $7.5 million of unrealized losses, and the position could be liquidated if BTC slips to $102,000, according to a screenshot shared on X.
Interestingly, the long liquidations came amid a recent unusual tilt toward short positions in BTC derivatives despite record prices, CoinDesk reported on Thursday.
Read more: Why Are Bitcoin Traders Aggressively Shorting as BTC Hits New Record High?
More For You
알아야 할 것:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Bitcoin Faces Japan Rate Hike: Debunking The Yen Carry Trade Unwind Alarms, Real Risk Elsewhere
Speculators maintain net bullish positions in the yen, limiting scope for sudden JPY strength and mass carry unwind.
알아야 할 것:
- Impending BOJ rate hike largely priced in; Japanese bond yields near multi-decade highs.
- Speculators maintain net bullish positions in the yen, limiting scope for sudden yen strength.
- BOJ tightening may contribute to sustained upward pressure on global yields, impacting risk sentiment.
Top Stories
