XRP price suffered a brutal 37% flash crash on Saturday, August 22, as roughly $500 million in leveraged long positions were liquidated across the crypto market within minutes.

The move came just days after XRP had rallied more than 60% over the past week, leaving traders dangerously overexposed.

What Triggered the $500 Million Liquidation Wave

A liquidation occurs when an exchange forcibly closes a leveraged position because a trader can no longer cover potential losses, often triggering rapid, cascading price moves. That mechanism drove Saturday’s collapse.

XRP plunged 37%, a drop of roughly $0.60, while Bitcoin fell 2.5%, Ethereum dropped 5%, and Solana slid 11.5% during the same window. Roughly $500 million in long positions were liquidated within minutes as the market plunged.

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A wider timeframe helps illustrate the scale of the event. According to Coinglass data, $1.35 billion was liquidated from the crypto market over the past 24 hours, with the bulk of the activity concentrated on Binance.

“Due to the current decline, a large amount of $XRP long positions have been liquidated. There has been no increase in short positions during this downturn; in fact, short positions are decreasing. It is simply that high-leverage long positions held by retail investors have been liquidated. Even during a bull market, a decline of this scale is inevitable,” crypto analyst CW said on X.

Analysts Call it Manipulation, Others Call It Deleveraging

The crash followed days of euphoria. XRP had surged over 60% in the prior week, briefly topping $1.69, fueled by institutional inflows, regulatory optimism, and a broad market short squeeze.

That rally left the market saturated with leveraged long positions, amplifying any correction that followed. Analysts agree that no clear macro catalyst triggered the drop, no Fed announcement, no major hack.

The most common explanation is structural: high leverage, thin weekend liquidity, and excessively bullish positioning. Some traders describe it as manipulation, while others call it simple, necessary deleveraging that the market needed.

XRP quickly recovered part of the lost ground, climbing back to around $1.50 in the hours following the crash, according to BeInCrypto data.

Still, the episode reinforced a familiar lesson. In heavily leveraged crypto markets, a move lasting only minutes can wipe out hundreds of millions of dollars and knock thousands of traders out of the game entirely.

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Source: BeInCrypto