SOXL liquidations lead $52M chip-stock wipeout in 10 minutes while Wall Street was closed

Leveraged bets on AI-themed semiconductor perpetuals unraveled on crypto-native exchanges during off-hours trading US stock markets were closed. Traders betting on chip stocks lost about $52 million anyway. On October 18, 2026, perpetual futures tied to AI-themed semiconductor stocks and ETFs dropped sharply. The slide triggered approximately $51.6 million in liquidations within 10 minutes, between 05:22 and 05:32 UTC, according to CoinGlass data compiled across multiple exchanges. The biggest casualty was a product that already carries leverage before anyone adds more: the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares, better known as SOXL. Liquidations hit hardest on the bullish side of the trade. Long positions accounted for around $38.1 million, or 73.8% of the total. SOXL led the pack with around $12.73 million in liquidations.

BeCrypto News shows a short excerpt and links to the publisher. The full report belongs to Crypto Briefing.