On Oct. 8, the crypto market faced a significant downturn, leading to over $624 million in liquidations across major digital assets. Notably, BNB demonstrated atypical resilience, with just over $13 million in liquidations, prompting accusations of market manipulation from critics.
ETH, BTC Lead Liquidation Wave; BNB’s Stability Raises Eyebrows
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ETH and BTC Bear the Brunt
The crypto market downturn on Oct. 8 led to the liquidation of more than $624 million in leveraged positions, with ether ( ETH) accounting for a significant portion. ETH, which fell 5.7% on the day, represented roughly a quarter of all contracts wiped out. According to Coinglass’s 24-hour liquidation heatmap, ETH liquidations totaled $176 million—of which $142.7 million were long positions, with the remainder in shorts.
Bitcoin ( BTC) also saw substantial liquidations after falling from a new all-time high of $126,272 less than 24 hours earlier. Long BTC positions made up two-thirds of the $157.9 million in total liquidations, while short positions accounted for $43.76 million. Other notable liquidations occurred in DOGE, SOL and XRP.
However, it was BNB’s liquidation data that drew particular attention. In the 24 hours ending at 10:30 a.m. EST, BNB liquidations totaled just over $13 million—split almost evenly between long and short positions. For comparison, SOL, with a market cap of over $121 billion, saw liquidations exceeding $32 million, more than double BNB’s total despite the latter’s larger market cap of $181 billion.
BNB’s limited liquidations and its upward price movement—while most high-cap altcoins declined—sparked heated debate on social media. Omar, a bitcoin investor and Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporter, accused Binance and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) of market manipulation.
“Hey @binance @cz_binance don’t be too obvious next time. Manipulation/liquidations across the entire crypto market straight out of your corner but of course BNB is the only green. Up 10%,” Omar posted on X, urging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate.
The Fundamentals vs. Centralization Debate
BNB’s price action exhibits a notable resilience, characterized by its aggressive outperformance during broader crypto bull runs and its comparatively lower volatility during market downturns. This unusual stability for a major altcoin is often attributed to its foundational ecosystem utility on the BNB Chain and its strong deflationary supply mechanics, specifically the large, quarterly token burns aimed at reducing the circulating supply to 100 million.
However, the tight correlation between these centralized actions (utility within the Binance-controlled ecosystem and strategic burns) and its market strength has perpetually fueled speculation among critics regarding potential market manipulation, lack of transparency or ‘insider-trading advantages’ that could distort its price from purely organic market fundamentals.
Beyond these allegations, Binance has faced growing scrutiny from critics skeptical of BNB’s recent surge. Ted Pillows, an investor and key opinion leader (KOL), dismissed claims of rising interest in the BNB ecosystem.
“Money keeps on flowing into the BNB ecosystem. Scam chain with scam tokens and fake volume. Yes you can ape in and earn money but it’s not going to take long,” Pillows wrote on X.
