History Says: Big Liquidations Come Before Big Highs

Coinglass has published a list of the largest liquidations in crypto history.

And guess what’s at the very top? The one we all just went through. On October 10, 2025, the market saw a record $19.16 billion in positions wiped out in just 24 hours.

Now, take a look at the rest of the top liquidations — and, more importantly, their dates:

• 2. Apr 18, 2021 — $9.94B
• 3. May 19, 2021 — $9.01B
• 4. Feb 22, 2021 — $4.10B
• 5. Sep 7, 2021 — $3.65B
• 6. Sep 22, 2025 — $3.62B
• 7. Feb 23, 2021 — $3.15B
• 8. Apr 23, 2021 — $2.92B
• 9. Apr 16, 2021 — $2.77B
• 10. May 13, 2021 — $2.47B

Notice something? No Terra/Luna collapse, no FTX implosion, no COVID crash of 2020.

If Coinglass data is accurate, the biggest liquidations didn’t happen during bear markets — they happened in years when Bitcoin was breaking past old highs, pulling the entire crypto market up with it.

And in 2021, every single major liquidation came before the final peak. Meaning: the market flushed out excess leverage first — and only then went on its ultimate run.

So maybe 2025’s final rally is still ahead of us. Of course, a few more mass liquidations might come first.

Trade smart. Perpetuals might be trendy — even the top crypto wallets are adding them now — but in the long run, it’s always safer to own the assets themselves, not just the derivatives.