The crypto market’s volatility took a brutal toll on DeFi traders today.
DeFi protocols on Ethereum experienced a record-breaking day of liquidations, surpassing $350 million in the past 24 hours, according to Parsec Finance.
This surge was triggered by heightened market volatility and a broader cryptocurrency downturn. Bitcoin plummeted to its lowest point since February, dropping below $53,000, while Ethereum also suffered, falling to a six-month low of around $2,300.
Most of these liquidations were concentrated in three major assets, impacting lending protocols like Aave. ETH collateral experienced the most significant liquidations, totaling $216 million over the past day.
Wrapped staked ETH (wstETH) followed with $97 million in liquidations, and wrapped bitcoin (wBTC) saw substantial liquidations amounting to $35 million.
During this spike in liquidations, Aave founder Stani Kulechov reported that the decentralized lending platform earned $6 million in liquidation fees.
This surge in liquidations can be attributed to various factors, including sudden downward price movements across the broader market.
Meanwhile, centralized exchanges recorded futures liquidations exceeding $1 billion in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data. Around $900 million of these were long-leveraged positions. Over half a billion dollars worth of liquidations affected Ethereum and Bitcoin traders alone.
