This past week saw a staggering liquidation of over $18.7 billion worth of long crypto positions, while short liquidations only totaled $3.6 billion. The extreme imbalance highlights the volatile nature of the digital asset market and suggests some traders were overly optimistic about bullish prices. A combination of factors including macro pressures like rising interest rates and geopolitical tensions as well as sudden price drops caused forced liquidation from leveraged traders. Many found themselves trapped due to rapid price changes. Why were so many long positions liquidated?** Several factors contributed to this shift, including increased macroeconomic uncertainty, speculation about market manipulation, and periods of low liquidity during which sudden sell-offs occurred.