Ethereum traders who bet on falling prices took the heaviest losses in the crypto derivatives market over the past 24 hours. Liquidations on Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, totaled $48.25 million as of Monday morning, with short positions making up nearly four out of every five dollars wiped out.
ETH Short Liquidations Hit $38.17 Million
A liquidation happens when an exchange forcibly closes a leveraged trading position because the trader no longer has enough margin, or collateral, to cover losses. Data from CoinGlass, a derivatives analytics platform, showed that Ethereum (ETH) recorded $48.25 million in liquidations in the 24 hours to 05:54 AM UTC on October 12, 2026.
Short positions, which profit when prices fall, accounted for $38.17 million, or 79.1% of the total. Long positions, which profit when prices rise, accounted for $10.07 million, or 20.9%. Short liquidations were therefore about 3.8 times larger than long liquidations, a clear sign that the market moved against bearish traders.
Ethereum led all assets on the CoinGlass liquidation heatmap, ahead of Bitcoin (BTC) at $46.80 million and Zcash (ZEC) at $14.83 million.
Ethereum Price Today: ETH Trades at $2,561
According to CoinGecko, Ethereum traded at $2,561.35, up 2.3% over 24 hours. The token moved between a low of $2,495.93 and a high of $2,567.88 during that period, placing the current price about 2.6% above the daily low and just 0.25% below the daily high.
The price chart shows the move began late Sunday evening IST, when ETH climbed from around $2,505 to above $2,540 within roughly an hour. The token then pulled back toward $2,520 in the early hours of Monday before resuming its climb and setting a fresh 24-hour high in the morning session. That sequence of rising prices is the condition under which short positions typically get liquidated in clusters.
Ethereum’s market capitalization stood at $313.17 billion, with $9.15 billion in 24-hour trading volume. The token also gained 1.0% against Bitcoin, trading at 0.03047 BTC, meaning ETH outperformed the largest cryptocurrency over the same window.
ETH Derivatives: Open Interest Stays Elevated
Open interest (OI) measures the total value of outstanding derivatives contracts that have not been settled. Ethereum’s perpetual futures open interest was $44.84 billion, according to CoinGecko. Perpetual futures, often called perps, are derivatives contracts with no expiry date that let traders take leveraged positions on an asset’s price.
With $44.84 billion in open positions against $48.25 million in liquidations, the forced closures represent a small fraction of total leverage in the ETH market. This suggests the move cleared out a pocket of overextended short positions rather than triggering a broad deleveraging event.
What the Short Liquidations Mean for ETH Price
When a short position is liquidated, the exchange buys back the asset to close it. That forced buying can add short-term upward price pressure, a pattern traders call a short squeeze. However, gains driven mainly by forced covering can fade once the liquidations stop, unless spot buyers step in to absorb supply.
For now, the data points to two levels on the ETH price chart. The 24-hour low of $2,495.93 sits just below the psychological $2,500 mark, which acted as the base for the latest rally. On the upside, the 24-hour high of $2,567.88 is the nearest level ETH must clear to extend its gains. A sustained move above that level would put the token in position to test higher ranges, while a drop back below $2,500 would erase the latest advance.
Traders will also watch funding rates, the periodic payments exchanged between long and short holders in perpetual futures markets, to judge whether leverage is building up again after the squeeze.
Bitcoin Moves in Tandem
Bitcoin also traded higher. Based on Ethereum’s price against Bitcoin on CoinGecko, BTC was trading near $84,000, and its $46.80 million in liquidations made it the second most liquidated asset after Ethereum.
Liquidation figures update in real time and may change as market activity continues.
Also Read: Bitcoin Price Today: BTC Back Above $84K as ETF Selling Eases and Shorts Unwind
