AVAX Liquidations Flip Long: $1.4M Longs Hit in 24 Hours

Avalanche derivatives are showing a sharp liquidation imbalance beneath a still-crowded long book: $1.4M of long positions were liquidated over 24 hours versus $242.4K of shorts, while total open interest fell 7.4% to $406.1M. The immediate signal is not a clean bullish reset; it is a long-heavy market being forced to reduce exposure as price sits at $10.891 and has fallen 5.3%.

Recent coverage has focused on upgrade and tokenization narratives that could support a broader AVAX recovery, but the derivatives tape currently describes a more conflicted setup.

Concentration is shrinking, not expanding

Binance remains the largest AVAX venue by open interest, holding $114.9M or 28.3% of the tracked total, followed by Bybit at $84.9M or 20.9%. Bitget contributes $33.2M, or 8.2%, while OKX holds $19.3M, or 4.8%. All four reduced exposure over 24 hours: Binance fell 9.6%, Bybit 6.2%, Bitget 5.7%, and OKX 13.8%.

There is a short-term counterpoint. Over the latest 4-hour comparison, open interest rose 1.8% on Binance, 4.3% on Bybit, 2.7% on Bitget, and 3.0% on OKX. Gate, with only 3.7% of the total, expanded 13.4% over 24 hours and 15.7% over 4 hours. That suggests fresh leverage is returning selectively, but the largest venues have not yet confirmed a broad rebuild. The overall open-interest trend therefore remains a deleveraging one rather than an accumulation signal.

Funding is split across the major venues

The funding rate map adds another layer of caution. Binance is positive at 0.0095%, Bitget at 0.0100%, and OKX at 0.0054%, indicating that longs are paying on several of the deepest books. Bybit is the outlier among the leading venues at -0.0083%, while Gate is also negative at -0.0110%. This cross-venue spread matters: bullish positioning is expensive on some exchanges, but short-side pressure is still being rewarded on others.

The aggregate ticker funding average is -0.0016%, so the market-wide reading is slightly negative despite positive rates on Binance and several peers. That combination is consistent with hedging or short exposure outside the most visible long-heavy accounts, rather than a synchronized bullish carry trade.

Liquidations reveal a two-stage flush

The liquidation sequence is unusually important. In the latest 1-hour window, shorts accounted for $4.1K versus $1.3K of longs; the 4-hour window showed the same direction, with $27.9K of shorts liquidated against $7.6K of longs. But the 12-hour window reversed sharply: long liquidations reached $682.8K, compared with $61.1K of shorts. Across 24 hours, that imbalance widened to $1.4M of longs against $242.4K of shorts.

In other words, the market first squeezed some shorts during the rebound, then punished the larger long inventory as momentum faded. The account data confirms that crowding remains on the long side: Binance accounts are 68.6% long, Bybit accounts 71.1% long, and Gate accounts 62.0% long. Yet active flow is less one-sided. Binance takers are nearly even at 50.3% long and 49.7% short, while Gate takers remain 68.8% long.

That account-versus-taker divergence is the core liquidation-skew warning. Passive positioning still expects upside, but the largest active flow sample is not aggressively adding longs. If price weakens again, the crowded account structure leaves more long exposure vulnerable than the headline funding average suggests.

Verdict: The bearish-risk bias remains active while AVAX trades around $10.891 with open interest below $406.1M and long liquidations dominating the 24-hour window. A recovery that holds above $10.891 while open interest rebuilds from $406.1M would invalidate the liquidation-skew view; absent that combination, rallies look more like short-covering and selective leverage repair than a confirmed trend reversal. Data as of 19:12 Beijing time on Sep 22, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.