# Liquidation cascade on 2026-08-21

On 2026-08-21 our detector flagged $786.34M of forced closures across 5 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/2026-08-21 · attribute to ByKaranteli and quote the timestamp.
Snapshot taken 2026-08-21T22:30:00.000Z.

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

| Measure | Value |
| --- | ---: |
| Force-closed (USD) | $786.34M |
| Longs (share of total, USD) | 10%, $81.09M |
| Shorts (share of total, USD) | 90%, $705.25M |
| Bursts (30 minute windows over threshold) | 5 |

## Every burst on this day

| Window (UTC) | Total (USD) | Longs (USD) | Shorts (USD) | Coins swept | BTC move (%) |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | --- | ---: |
| 00:00 to 02:00 | $197.11M | $6.42M | $190.69M | BTCUSDT, ETHUSDT, SOLUSDT | +2.66% |
| 01:00 to 02:00 | $136.51M | $5.09M | $131.41M | BTCUSDT, ETHUSDT, SOLUSDT | +1.71% |
| 07:00 to 07:30 | $87.98M | $2.46M | $85.52M | BTCUSDT, ETHUSDT, SNDKUSDT | +1.00% |
| 08:30 to 09:30 | $241.63M | $59.24M | $182.38M | BTCUSDT, ETHUSDT, SOLUSDT | +0.79% |
| 21:00 to 22:30 | $123.12M | $7.88M | $115.25M | ETHUSDT, BTCUSDT, SOLUSDT | +0.98% |

## 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 | $461.02M | 58.6 |
| ETHUSDT | $217.00M | 27.6 |
| SOLUSDT | $24.60M | 3.1 |
| XRPUSDT | $9.48M | 1.2 |
| SNDKUSDT | $4.41M | 0.6 |
| DOGEUSDT | $3.92M | 0.5 |
| BNBUSDT | $2.51M | 0.3 |
| XAUUSDT | $2.47M | 0.3 |

## 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) |
| --- | ---: |
| 2026-08-21 07:30 | 76422.2 |
| 2026-08-21 07:35 | 76365 |
| 2026-08-21 07:40 | 76533.3 |
| 2026-08-21 07:45 | 76510.1 |
| 2026-08-21 07:50 | 76380.6 |
| 2026-08-21 07:55 | 76373.1 |
| 2026-08-21 08:00 | 76345 |
| 2026-08-21 08:05 | 76561.5 |
| 2026-08-21 08:10 | 76701.8 |
| 2026-08-21 08:15 | 76931.3 |
| 2026-08-21 08:20 | 77113.6 |
| 2026-08-21 08:25 | 77206.5 |
| 2026-08-21 08:30 | 77226.2 |
| 2026-08-21 08:35 | 77645.5 |
| 2026-08-21 08:40 | 77518.1 |
| 2026-08-21 08:45 | 77751.2 |
| 2026-08-21 08:50 | 78146 |
| 2026-08-21 08:55 | 78651.2 |
| 2026-08-21 09:00 | 78752.8 |
| 2026-08-21 09:05 | 77780.6 |
| 2026-08-21 09:10 | 77931.5 |
| 2026-08-21 09:15 | 77584.6 |
| 2026-08-21 09:20 | 77763.2 |
| 2026-08-21 09:25 | 77610.7 |
| 2026-08-21 09:30 | 77694.4 |
| 2026-08-21 09:35 | 77864.1 |
| 2026-08-21 09:40 | 77880.1 |
| 2026-08-21 09:45 | 78300.1 |
| 2026-08-21 09:50 | 77977.9 |
| 2026-08-21 09:55 | 78000.9 |
| 2026-08-21 10:00 | 77832.7 |
| 2026-08-21 10:05 | 77763 |
| 2026-08-21 10:10 | 77909.9 |
| 2026-08-21 10:15 | 78049.3 |
| 2026-08-21 10:20 | 78037.7 |
| 2026-08-21 10:25 | 78007.1 |
| 2026-08-21 10:30 | 77843.6 |

## 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/2026-08-20
- Next cascade: /md/incidents/2026-08-22

## Related

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

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