Liquidations jump to $547 million as oil rally hits crypto market

Bitcoin prices dropped below $84,000 shortly after midnight UTC on Oct. 7 as reports of stepped-up attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz pushed Brent crude above $101 a barrel. The rise in oil coincided with a stronger dollar and higher Treasury yields, contributing to a broad risk-off move across crypto markets. The downturn hit smaller tokens more severely than majors. CoinDesk's wider CoinDesk 80 benchmark fell nearly 4% over 24 hours, versus a 2.5% decline for the CoinDesk 5. DeFi tokens lost about 6% and the Memecoin Index fell roughly 5%, while a handful of tokens including SAND, PUMP and STX managed gains. Derivative markets showed active repositioning: liquidations spiked to about $547 million over 24 hours, with ether positions accounting for roughly $174 million of the total. Futures volume rose 16% to $182.85 billion while open interest edged down 1% to $152.60 billion, a pattern that CoinDesk described as seller-driven trading rather than fresh bullish leverage. Perpetual funding rates for major coins turned slightly negative and the 24-hour cumulative volume delta for majors was also negative, signaling more aggressive selling. Layer-2 and altcoin weakness was notable: Optimism’s OP led losses in the CoinDesk 100 with a near-10% drop after reports that Pudgy Penguins’ Abstract became the second Ethereum layer-2 to shut down in a week. Other layer-2 and protocol tokens including MNT and ARB fell between about 7% and 10%. Meanwhile, bitcoin-focused demand in cash markets showed persistence — U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $119 million of inflows on Tuesday — highlighting a split between some steady cash buying and derivative-driven deleveraging. Market structure indicators were mixed: bitcoin futures open interest recovered to about 660,000 BTC from a September low but remained below this year’s peak near 800,000 BTC. Ether futures OI rose to around 13.22 million ETH, which, if sustained, would break a downtrend from May. Traders are also watching the Fed’s September meeting minutes due later Wednesday for further cues on rate policy and how that might affect risk assets.