Bitcoin’s Flash Crash Sees $7B Crypto Liquidation as Trump Ramps Up China Trade War
BTC tumbled 10% on Friday, while ETH, SOL and XRP crashed 15%-30% in a crypto flash crash as trade tensions escalate between the U.S. and China.
Updated Oct 10, 2025, 10:45 p.m. Published Oct 10, 2025, 9:51 p.m.
Friday has gone from bad to worse for crypto assets as U.S. President Trump said he would impose an additional 100% tariff on China, sending prices cascading lower in a flash crash.
Bitcoin BTC$111,283.57, already trading weak at around $117,000 following Trump’s late morning comments about threatening China with tariffs, tumbled below $110,000, down 12% over the past 24 hours. Ether ETH$3,751.19 tanked 16% below $3,700, while other major altcoins XRP$2.3976, solana SOL$177.60 and DOGE$0.1850 crashed 20%-30%. The native tokens of ADA$0.6320, Chainlink LINK$17.17 and Aave AAVE$232.41 fell as much as 40%
Friday’s market meltdown lead to over $7 billion in liquidations from traders who bet on higher prices, according to CoinGlass.
The latest flare-up in trade tensions between U.S. and China occurred as Trump said he would increase tariffs in Chinese goods in response to China’s export controls on rare earth metals. Then, after traditional markets closed for the week, he announced in an Truth Social post late Friday afternoon that he would impose an additional 100% tariff starting on November 1.
“Also on November 1, we will impose export controls on any and all critical software,” he said.
Bitcoin fell $3,000 immediately at the time that post went live.
The violent price action was one for the ages, with some analysts comparing it to the market crash in March 2020 induced by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
“Covid level nukes,” prominent trader Bob Loukas said about the crash in an X post. “Wow, nasty, nasty action. But also a great candidate for the mother of shakeouts,” he added.
“Brutal day,” said Ram Ahluwalia, founder of investment firm Lumida Wealth. “The Trump news combined with ‘overbought’ conditions led to a sharp decline.”
“I know there are a lot of emotions right now and this flush is in the top 3 all time,” well-followed trader Pentoshi posted, adding that altcoins dropped as violently as during the COVID crash. “There are a lot of people in incredible pain right now, myself included in that.”
“The altcoin complex got absolutely eviscerated,” said Zaheer Ebtikar, founder and is the CIO of crypto hedge fund Split Capital. “We’re at levels not seen in more than a year with regard to altcoins. Full leverage reset and market dislocation.”
Read more: Trump Tariff Threat on China Sends Bitcoin Tumbling Below $119K
UPDATE (Oct. 10, 2025, 21:55 UTC): Adds updated liquidation figure.
UPDATE (Oct. 10, 2025, 22:12 UTC): Adds comments from traders.
More For You
Total Crypto Trading Volume Hits Yearly High of $9.72T
Combined spot and derivatives trading on centralized exchanges surged 7.58% to $9.72 trillion in August, marking the highest monthly volume of 2025
What to know:
- Combined spot and derivatives trading on centralized exchanges surged 7.58% to $9.72 trillion in August, marking the highest monthly volume of 2025
- Gate exchange emerged as major player with 98.9% volume surge to $746 billion, overtaking Bitget to become fourth-largest platform
- Open interest across centralized derivatives exchanges rose 4.92% to $187 billion
More For You
How Auto-Deleveraging on Crypto Perp Trading Platforms Can Shock and Anger Even Advanced Traders
Doug Colkitt’s explainer details a backstop that trims winners, ranks accounts by profit leverage and size, and keeps zero-sum markets solvent under stress.
What to know:
- ADL is a last-resort backstop that activates only after liquidations and remaining buffers fail.
- Venues rank reductions by unrealized profit, effective leverage and position size.
- Colkitt’s flight and poker analogies show why winners can be clipped to preserve solvency.