The crypto market just had its face ripped off. More than $609 million in futures positions were liquidated in a single hour, with the overwhelming majority, some $592 million, coming from traders who were betting prices would keep climbing.

Only $17 million came from short positions. In other words, this was a one-sided massacre of the bulls.

What happened

Bitcoin and Ethereum led the liquidation leaderboard. BTC-linked liquidations hit $152 million in the hour, while ETH accounted for $78.8 million.

In English: traders had borrowed money to amplify their bets that prices would rise. When prices dropped instead, exchanges automatically closed those positions to cover losses. That forced selling then pushed prices…