One year after crypto's $19 billion wipeout, bitcoin sits about 27% below that day's close

On Saturday, crypto marks one year since October 10, 2025, the day more than $19 billion of leveraged positions were forced closed in 24 hours. CoinGlass put the total at $19.16 billion. CoinDesk Research called it the largest liquidation event in crypto history. A year on, bitcoin is lower than it was after the crash.

The price then and now

We pulled daily candles and 24-hour stats from the Coinbase Exchange API. Exchanges differ on intraday extremes, so these are Coinbase figures only.

From the October 6, 2025 high, bitcoin is down about 35%. From the close on the day of the wipeout it is down about 27%. Ether is the starker case: it closed October 10, 2025 near $3,836 and trades near $2,490 now, roughly 35% lower.

What the crash was

CoinDesk's review attributes the trigger to President Trump's announcement of 100% tariffs on Chinese imports, hitting a market with record open interest and crowded long positions. A second shock followed when the USDe stablecoin traded as low as $0.65 on Binance, forcing liquidations across related collateral. Perpetual futures open interest fell 43%, from $217 billion to $123 billion, and the average token in CoinDesk's tracked universe fell about 47% at the extreme. Bitcoin's low in that report was $106,560, on a venue other than Coinbase.

One popular video this week said bitcoin fell from about $121,000 to $102,000 that day. We could not confirm a $102,000 print in the sources above; the lowest figures we found are $106,560 (CoinDesk) and $107,000 (Coinbase). Different venues printed different wicks, so the exact low depends on the exchange.

What it means a year later

The wipeout reset leverage, and the market has not regained its old highs. Bitcoin's weekly range this week, from about $80,400 to $83,500 on Coinbase, shows a market still working through that damage. Anyone using borrowed money on crypto should note how fast a forced-selling cascade can move prices when positions are crowded one way. See live crypto prices, and our report on who now owns the main liquidation data feeds.

Sources: CoinDesk Research; CoinGlass; Coinbase Exchange API. Information, not investment advice.