More than $2.24 billion was liquidated from the cryptocurrency markets in the past 24 hours amid growing geopolitical uncertainties arising from the global tariff war. Ether ( ETH ) took the lead, with combined long and short liquidations worth over $609.9 million.

Total daily crypto liquidations on Jan. 3 of over $2.24 billion were shared across more than 730,000 traders. The biggest single liquidation order was recorded on crypto exchange Binance for an ETH/BTC trading pair valued at $25.6 million, according to CoinGlass data .

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Liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlass

Biggest crypto exchanges facilitate the liquidation

During the timeframe, 36.8% of all liquidations happened on Binance, owing to its massive user base. Other crypto exchanges that shared the liquidations were OKX, Bybit, Gate.IO and HTX.

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Liquidations on crypto exchanges. Source: CoinGlass

Long traders lost $1.88 billion, or 84% of the total liquidations, highlighting overall anticipation of another bull run. 

Related: Bitcoin retail sellers send $625M to Binance before ‘first cycle top ’

In January, the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) pulled in nearly $5 billion worth of investments, setting the stage for a potential $ 50 billion in inflows by the end of 2025 .

Adverse effects of global politics on crypto markets

Alongside the massive liquidations, top altcoins, including ETH and Cardano ( ADA ), dropped double digits in an hour after US President Donald Trump announced the first round of tariffs against imports from China, Canada and Mexico.

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Cryptocurrency prices by market capitalization. Source: CoinGecko

Theya’s Bitcoin head of growth and analyst, Joe Consorti, noted that the Trump-induced $2.24 billion liquidation event was larger than liquidations during the COVID-19 pandemic and the FTX collapse.

As of Feb. 3, the investor sentiment in the crypto market stands at “fear,” according to Alternative.me data . 

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Crypto Fear & Greed Index (based on the analysis of emotions and sentiments). Source: Alternative.Me

This suggests that crypto investors are starting to get worried about their investments. Historically, extreme fear sentiments have served as a buying opportunity for many. 

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