Asia's Chip Rout Just Wiped Out $803 Million in Crypto Bets, and SanDisk Traders Got Hit Harder Than XRP

A sharp selloff in Asian semiconductor stocks rippled into crypto markets on Tuesday, forcing the liquidation of about $803 million in leveraged positions across 10 exchanges over 24 hours. Bitcoin briefly fell below $81,000, and in a sign of how closely crypto and chip stocks now trade together, bets on tokenized SanDisk contracts were liquidated in larger amounts than XRP, one of the biggest cryptocurrencies.

The trigger: a chip rout in Seoul

The selling started in South Korea. The KOSPI index plunged more than 6%, dragged down by its two biggest stocks: Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each fell about 8%. Investors dumped chipmakers on worries about stretched AI-related valuations and rising competition from Chinese memory-chip makers. The pressure on memory stocks had already been building in the U.S. last week, and Tuesday's drop in Asia accelerated it.

Why chip stocks hit crypto

Many crypto exchanges now offer perpetual futures, contracts with no expiry date that traders can buy with heavy leverage, on traditional stocks and ETFs as well as on coins. That means a trader on a crypto platform can hold a leveraged bet on SanDisk, SK Hynix or Micron right next to a bet on Bitcoin. When chip stocks fell, those positions blew up alongside crypto ones.

SanDisk-linked contracts saw $19.09 million in liquidations, slightly more than XRP. The triple-leveraged semiconductor ETF SOXL also saw about $7.21 million liquidated, and contracts tracking SK Hynix and Micron showed up on the day's liquidation charts.

Assets hardest hit

A classic leverage flush

The damage fell almost entirely on traders betting prices would rise. Long positions made up 86% of the forced closures, or about $694 million, and more than 172,000 traders were liquidated. About $595 million of the total hit in the final 12 hours, and Binance accounted for roughly half of all liquidations. The largest single liquidation was a $9.65 million Bitcoin long on Binance, closed near $81,700.

Bitcoin later recovered above $83,000. In the hours that followed, the pattern flipped, with short sellers taking most of the smaller round of liquidations as prices bounced, a common sign that the forced selling had run its course for now.

What to watch

• Asian chip stocks. Whether Samsung and SK Hynix stabilize, or the selloff spreads further into U.S. memory names like Micron and SanDisk.
• Thursday's U.S. inflation report. The next big test for Bitcoin, which is trading more like a risk asset tied to tech stocks.
• Leverage levels. Funding rates and open interest show whether traders rebuild bullish bets quickly or stay cautious.
• Tokenized stock perps. Their growing role means stock-market shocks can now trigger crypto liquidations directly, and the reverse.