Crypto Market Crashed at Start of Week: Liquidations Exceed $1 Billion
Date: 2025-09-23 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: CRYPTO PAYMENTS
The cryptocurrency market started the week with a powerful collapse. On the morning of September 22, Bitcoin (BTC) plummeted from $115,000 to below $112,000, while Ethereum (ETH), which had been trading around $4,500 overnight, fell to nearly $4,000 for the first time since August. According to CoinMarketCap, by 10:00 AM, all leading assets in the top 100 by market capitalization were in the red.
The sharp drop in prices triggered massive liquidations of margin positions. According to CoinGlass, in just one hour from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM Moscow time, traders lost over $1 billion on long positions. Over the past 12 hours, the total volume of liquidated trades reached $1.5 billion, with the main losses falling on players betting on the rise of ETH and BTC.
Other key assets were also affected by the decline. Ripple's XRP fell below $3, while Solana (SOL) briefly fell to $214, despite trading above $240 the previous day. Dogecoin (DOGE) lost more than 10% in 24 hours. Meanwhile, Binance's BNB token showed the opposite trend, consolidating above $1,000, setting an all-time high.
Amid the sell-off, the Fear and Greed Index has shifted into the fear zone, standing at 45 points out of 100. A week ago, the index was in the neutral zone, indicating growing anxiety among market participants and diminishing short-term expectations for cryptocurrency growth.
Historically, September has rarely been a favorable month for Bitcoin. In 2019, 2020, and 2021, cryptocurrency experienced significant declines during this period. However, following such declines, the market repeatedly demonstrated strong recoveries in October, giving some analysts reason to hope for a repeat of this scenario.
Thus, the start of the week presented a serious challenge for traders: in a matter of hours, the market wiped out billions of dollars and heightened short-term uncertainty. At the same time, history suggests that sharp September declines often serve as a prelude to renewed growth.
