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Massive Crypto Crash: Trump's Tariffs Liquidate Billions and Crush Meme Tokens

Massive Crypto Crash: Trump's Tariffs Liquidate Billions and Crush Meme Tokens

On October 10, 2025, the crypto world got rocked harder than a bad DJ set at a meme party. It all started with a tweet from @martypartymusic, highlighting what looks like blatant insider trading right before President Trump's bombshell announcement of 100% tariffs on China. This sparked a chain reaction that led to the biggest liquidation event in crypto history—over $19 billion wiped out in a single day. But if you're in the meme token game, you felt this one deep in your wallet. Let's break it down step by step, keeping things simple and straightforward.

First off, what's the deal with this tweet? MartyParty, a well-known crypto commentator and macro analyst, posted evidence of massive short positions opened on Hyperliquid just 30 minutes before Trump's tariff news dropped. These accounts, created the same day, closed out with profits totaling $192 million. That's not luck—that's smelling like insider info. The tweet included charts showing the trades, painting a picture of calculated moves amid the chaos.

Chart showing insider short positions before crypto crash Details of profits from suspected insider trades

Trump's tariff announcement was the spark that lit the fuse. Aimed at China, it triggered a risk-off mood across global markets, but crypto took it on the chin. Bitcoin dipped from $123K to under $119K in minutes, Ethereum broke below $4K, and altcoins? They plummeted 30-90% in single candles. Meme tokens, those fun, volatile darlings of the blockchain, got absolutely crushed—many dropping 80-95% in the blink of an eye.

Why did meme tokens suffer so much? Simple: they're highly leveraged and sentiment-driven. Platforms like Pump.fun on Solana saw massive cascades. One post mentioned a specific Pump.fun token (cqBsZzsbfMKJMtV4shiTZXpEK4MUVurBacA5F6opump), which was hyped in live streams but tanked along with everything else. BNB-based memes crashed 95% after CZ distanced himself from endorsements. When liquidity dries up and panic selling hits, low-cap memes are the first to evaporate. It's like a house of cards in a hurricane—fun until it's not.

But wait, there's more to this crash than just tariffs. MartyParty and others pointed to a potential oracle glitch or manipulation. Oracles are like the price messengers for blockchains, pulling data from centralized exchanges. If they're compromised (glitch or hack), perpetual contracts go haywire, triggering automatic liquidations. Chainlink and Pyth, the big oracle players, feed dollar prices to DEXs and dApps. During the event, stablecoins like USDe depegged to 62 cents, and exchanges faced DDoS attacks, preventing users from closing positions. Centralized systems failed spectacularly, while on-chain DeFi held up like a champ.

The numbers are staggering: $19.13 billion liquidated, with $16.68 billion from longs. Over 1.6 million traders got rekt. Hyperliquid saw five times more liquidations than Binance, including a single $203 million ETH-USDT wipeout. Open interest reset completely, setting the stage for a potential V-shaped recovery—just like in 2017 and 2020.

For meme token enthusiasts, this is a wake-up call. While spot buys at the dip could pay off (Bitcoin's floor at $100K seems solid), over-leveraging on perps is a recipe for disaster. Move to self-custody, ditch dollar pricing for crypto-native standards (1 SOL = 1 SOL), and watch those liquidation levels. Tools like MartyParty's charts with audio alerts helped some catch the bottom and turn it into a life-changing trade.

In the end, this event underscores the need for better regulation to curb manipulation. Crypto won by proving its resilience, but centralized weak points lost big. If you're building or trading meme tokens, stay informed—follow updates on Pump.fun and keep an eye on macro news. The next pump could be just around the corner, but so could the next dump. Stay safe out there, degens!

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