# Liquidation cascade on 2026-08-20

On 2026-08-20 our detector flagged $72.05M of forced closures across 2 detected bursts. Everything below is read from the real liquidation feed, not estimated: these are closures the exchanges actually broadcast.

Source: https://bykaranteli.com/incidents/2026-08-20 · attribute to ByKaranteli and quote the timestamp.
Snapshot taken 2026-08-20T17:00:00.000Z.

This page documents what was liquidated, not why the move started. A cascade is the amplifier, rarely the trigger.

| Measure | Value |
| --- | ---: |
| Force-closed (USD) | $72.05M |
| Longs (share of total, USD) | 5%, $3.94M |
| Shorts (share of total, USD) | 95%, $68.11M |
| Bursts (30 minute windows over threshold) | 2 |

## Every burst on this day

| Window (UTC) | Total (USD) | Longs (USD) | Shorts (USD) | Coins swept | BTC move (%) |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | --- | ---: |
| 08:00 to 08:30 | $37.22M | $2.44M | $34.79M | BTCUSDT, ETHUSDT, XRPUSDT | +1.99% |
| 16:30 to 17:00 | $34.82M | $1.50M | $33.32M | ETHUSDT, BTCUSDT, XRPUSDT | +0.50% |

## Which coins got swept

Forced-closure notional per symbol, summed across the day's bursts. A coin high on this list had the most leverage sitting where price went.

| Symbol | Force-closed (USD) | Share of the day (%) |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| BTCUSDT | $31.36M | 43.5 |
| ETHUSDT | $22.26M | 30.9 |
| XRPUSDT | $5.20M | 7.2 |
| DOGEUSDT | $1.62M | 2.2 |
| ZECUSDT | $1.61M | 2.2 |
| BNBUSDT | $1.11M | 1.5 |
| SOLUSDT | $925.9K | 1.3 |

## What price did

BTCUSDT minute closes around the day's largest burst, one hour either side. Every 5th minute below.

| Minute (UTC) | BTCUSDT close (USD) |
| --- | ---: |
| 2026-08-20 07:00 | 69805.5 |
| 2026-08-20 07:05 | 69906.6 |
| 2026-08-20 07:10 | 69882.5 |
| 2026-08-20 07:15 | 69756 |
| 2026-08-20 07:20 | 69639.9 |
| 2026-08-20 07:25 | 69648.6 |
| 2026-08-20 07:30 | 69564.3 |
| 2026-08-20 07:35 | 69566.9 |
| 2026-08-20 07:40 | 69542 |
| 2026-08-20 07:45 | 69578.5 |
| 2026-08-20 07:50 | 69646.4 |
| 2026-08-20 07:55 | 69763.1 |
| 2026-08-20 08:00 | 69788.8 |
| 2026-08-20 08:05 | 69875.3 |
| 2026-08-20 08:10 | 70924.9 |
| 2026-08-20 08:15 | 71061.6 |
| 2026-08-20 08:20 | 71235.5 |
| 2026-08-20 08:25 | 71150.1 |
| 2026-08-20 08:30 | 71254.4 |
| 2026-08-20 08:35 | 71178.9 |
| 2026-08-20 08:40 | 71482 |
| 2026-08-20 08:45 | 71517.7 |
| 2026-08-20 08:50 | 71683.5 |
| 2026-08-20 08:55 | 71715.6 |
| 2026-08-20 09:00 | 71509.2 |
| 2026-08-20 09:05 | 71672.9 |
| 2026-08-20 09:10 | 71890 |
| 2026-08-20 09:15 | 71772.3 |
| 2026-08-20 09:20 | 71829.1 |
| 2026-08-20 09:25 | 71991 |
| 2026-08-20 09:30 | 71844.5 |

## How a day gets a page

Our detector reads the real liquidation tape in 30 minute buckets and flags a bucket when its total forced closures exceed the larger of 30 million USD and six times the trailing median bucket, so the bar moves with market conditions. A day gets a page only when at least one bucket cleared that bar. Quiet days have no page, which is why this archive is short and will stay honest as it grows.

## Other cascade days

- Previous cascade: /md/incidents/2026-08-13
- Next cascade: /md/incidents/2026-08-21

## Related

- https://bykaranteli.com/incidents
- https://bykaranteli.com/liquidations
- https://bykaranteli.com/liqmap

Everything in one fetch: https://bykaranteli.com/llms-full.txt