Crypto traders holding long futures positions took a heavy hit over the past 24 hours after the Clarity Act failed to pass a procedural vote in the U.S. Senate.
According to CoinGlass, exchanges liquidated about $571 million in bullish positions during that period, the highest total since Aug. 22. By contrast, short, or bearish, positions accounted for only about $100 million of the wipeout.
Bitcoin and ether longs suffered the biggest losses, with roughly $190 million liquidated in each. XRP longs lost about $30 million, while Solana longs lost about $22 million. Analysts had previously said ether and DeFi tokens were the assets most likely to outperform bitcoin if the Senate approved the bill.
The data suggests the market had been positioned for further gains on expectations that the Clarity Act would advance. Those hopes strengthened earlier this week after reports said President Donald Trump was willing to make concessions on the bill’s ethics provisions. In response, bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, climbed from about $77,000 on Monday to nearly $80,000.
That rally began to unravel about 24 hours ago as reports circulated that Democrats were still holding their line. Those reports later proved correct: the bill failed to clear the Senate’s 60-vote procedural hurdle. Following the 49–50 procedural vote in the U.S. Senate that blocked the CLARITY Act, regulatory momentum has shifted to the executive branch and independent agencies. In particular, the CFTC and SEC can still move forward with their own rulemaking.
Liquidations occur when the market moves against a trader’s futures position and losses consume the collateral backing the trade. If the posted margin is no longer sufficient, the trader must add funds or the exchange force-closes the position.
Forced liquidations can add to market volatility, although the fallout so far appears contained. At the time of publication, CoinDesk data showed bitcoin changing hands at about $75,700, still within its recent trading range.
