In a comprehensive analysis of the significant crypto market events from October 10, 2025, Binance has asserted that the substantial $19 billion liquidation wave was primarily instigated by macroeconomic factors rather than failures specific to the exchange. The incident, referred to internally as the “10/10 incident,” coincided with escalating trade war tensions, increasing global bond yields, and a general downturn in equity markets. These conditions collectively led to a rapid deleveraging across various crypto derivatives markets.
This clarification comes amid a backdrop of public scrutiny and speculation regarding Binance”s role in the liquidation cascade following the crash. Many traders and analysts pointed to temporary price dislocations and reported interface issues as potential evidence of exchange-related failures. In response, Binance has aimed to delineate the timeline of events, highlighting the distinction between market-wide deleveraging and the localized issues that arose later in the volatility.
According to Binance, the peak of liquidations occurred prior to 21:36 UTC, significantly earlier than when two technical problems briefly impacted parts of the platform. By that time, approximately 75% of the total industry liquidations had already transpired. Data from CoinGlass corroborates this claim, revealing that at 01:00 UTC on October 10, total liquidations reached $19.25 billion, with long positions comprising the majority of forced closures.
During this peak, Binance recorded roughly $1.39 billion in long liquidations alongside $965 million in short liquidations. Other platforms also experienced considerable liquidation volumes, including Hyperliquid with $9.29 billion in long liquidations, Bybit with over $4.3 billion, and OKX with more than $1.07 billion in long liquidations. The widespread nature of these losses across multiple exchanges indicates a systemic unwinding of leverage rather than a failure confined to Binance.
While maintaining that broader market conditions were the principal catalysts for the crash, Binance acknowledged two specific incidents that occurred during the volatility window. The first was a temporary degradation of the asset transfer subsystem affecting Spot, Earn, and Futures accounts from 21:18 to 21:51 UTC, which was caused by database performance strain under increased load. Although some users briefly encountered zero balances in their interfaces, Binance reassured that actual funds remained unaffected.
The second incident transpired between 21:36 and 22:15 UTC, during which abnormal price deviations were noted for several assets, including USDe, WBETH, and BNSOL. These deviations contributed to margin calls and liquidations on affected trading pairs, particularly in conditions of thin liquidity. In response to these events, Binance has since implemented tighter deviation thresholds and enhanced cross-exchange reference pricing, along with improved circuit breakers to mitigate future risks.
Binance characterized the October flash crash as a stress test of the crypto market”s architecture under extreme macroeconomic pressure, emphasizing the role of market-maker risk controls and leverage concentration in amplifying volatility. The exchange has committed to expanding stress testing protocols, strengthening monitoring measures during volatility spikes, and enhancing capacity planning for potential future market shocks.
The October flash crash serves as a stark reminder of how macroeconomic shocks can quickly lead to cascading effects within highly leveraged crypto markets, irrespective of the stability of individual exchanges. Binance”s recent disclosures underline the critical importance of index design, liquidity depth, and cross-venue risk management in an environment characterized by elevated leverage.
