Hint: they didn’t blame it on the Fed or the tension in the Middle East.
Although most weekends are typically sluggish, with little to no price actions from the larger caps, there are some exceptions. However, even those are prompted by events that transpire during those non-trading days for the legacy markets, such as Maduro’s capture or some of Trump’s latest tariff threats.
The price shock from yesterday, though, didn’t have such an apparent catalyst to be blamed on. Just the opposite, BTC had already dropped on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve left the interest rates unchanged, and Trump had sent some of the country’s Navy closer to Iran. Moreover, bitcoin and the altcoins even recovered some ground on Friday when the precious metal market crumbled.
So, What’s The Reason?
The analysts from the Kobeissi Letter also dismissed the arguments that the Saturday meltdown had anything to do with the situation in Iran or the Fed’s latest actions. Instead, they said, “It’s entirely a liquidity situation.” Their chart shows three well-defined liquidation waves, totaling around $1.3 billion in the span of just 12 hours.
“In a market where liquidity has been choppy at best, sustained levels of extreme leverage are resulting in “air pockets” in price.
Couple this with herd-like sentiment, constantly shifting from extreme bullishness to extreme bearishness, and the swings become even more aggressive,” they explained.
Additionally, the analysts added that this might be a “great time to capitalize [on] polarity in emotion and price.”
10th Largest Liquidation Event
The aforementioned $1.3 billion liquidated in just 12 hours was only a portion of the entire amount that was wiped out from over-leveraged investors. CoinGlass data showed at one point that the total value of wrecked positions had skyrocketed to over $2.5 billion.
According to further data from the Kobeissi Letter, this places yesterday’s crash at the 10th spot in terms of daily liquidations.
BREAKING: $2.5 billion worth of levered longs have been liquidated in crypto over the last 24 hours.
This makes today the 10th largest liquidation event in crypto history.
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) January 31, 2026
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The undisputed leader here was from October 10, when the entire market tumbled hard. In 24 hours, investors had lost over $19 billion from liquidations.
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