@Binance BiBi When price suddenly accelerates, what matters more for a trader’s mindset: watching the chart, or understanding what forces are moving the market?

Even if you trade spot (without leverage), the crypto market can be extremely volatile — especially when a large portion of derivatives traders (with leverage) gets hit by automatic position closures. These automatic closures are called liquidations, and when they happen in waves, it’s called a cascade liquidation.
What Are Cascade Liquidations?
On derivatives markets, traders can open positions with leverage. When the market moves against them, the exchange automatically closes positions to prevent losses exceeding the trader’s margin. If many traders get liquidated at the same time, the exchange rapidly buys or sells assets, creating strong price pressure.
A cascade liquidation happens when these waves of automatic position closures push the market further in the direction of the price movement.
Real-Life Example (Recent Crash)
In early February 2026, the crypto market experienced a sharp drop: Bitcoin fell below $80,000 following large outflows from crypto funds and global risk-off sentiment. Analysts reported that roughly $1.6 billion was withdrawn from spot BTC ETFs, increasing selling pressure on the spot market.
At the same time, massive derivatives liquidations amplified the downward move, especially when many traders were long. This illustrates how liquidations can intensify price trends, even if fundamental reasons for selling already exist.
How Short Liquidations Can Push Prices Up
Liquidation mechanics work both ways:
When the market falls — many long positions are liquidated → this adds selling pressure, pushing prices down.When the market rises — many short positions get liquidated → traders who are short must buy assets to close positions, driving prices higher.
For example, during a sharp BTC rally to around $92,000, roughly $182 million in shorts were liquidated as prices surged, forcing short-sellers to buy back their positions.
This is known as a short squeeze. It can create rapid, temporary price spikes even without major news — simply due to the mechanics of liquidations accelerating market movement.
Why Spot Traders Should Care
Even if you trade without leverage, cascade liquidations affect market depth, volatility, and spot prices:
Sudden swings can create liquidity gaps — large orders fill faster than usual.After big liquidation waves, markets often rebound, as excess leveraged positions have already been removed and no longer weigh on the price.
Conclusion
Cascade liquidations are not just a detail of futures and margin trading — they are one of the main drivers behind sudden price moves you see in the spot market. Understanding this mechanism helps explain why prices can suddenly crash or spike, even when fundamentals are relatively stable.
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