Nearly $52 million in leveraged positions linked to chip stocks and semiconductor funds were forcibly closed within 10 minutes on Saturday, even though U.S. stock markets were shut for the weekend. The episode highlights the risks of round-the-clock, crypto-based contracts that track traditional shares when no live stock-market price is available.
A rapid liquidation wave
About $51.6 million in chip-related perpetual futures positions were liquidated between 21:22 and 21:32 UTC, according to CoinGlass data cited by CoinDesk. Roughly $38 million of the total involved traders positioned for prices to rise.
Perpetual futures are contracts that do not expire and are designed to follow the price of an underlying asset. In this case, the underlying references included individual chip companies and semiconductor funds, but the contracts traded on crypto platforms throughout the weekend.
Leverage allowed traders to control positions larger than the money they had deposited. When losses consume that deposit, the exchange can automatically close the position. Such forced closures may create additional selling pressure, potentially pushing the contract price lower and triggering liquidations for other leveraged traders.
The largest loss was recorded in contracts tied to SOXL, a fund designed to deliver three times the daily move of semiconductor shares. About $12.7 million in SOXL-related positions were liquidated. Contracts linked to SanDisk and SK Hynix each accounted for approximately $10.8 million.
Trading moved between crypto platforms
The selling began on Binance, according to a review of trading activity by David Jeong, chief executive of trading firm Tread.fi. Jeong placed the first large SanDisk and Micron sell orders on Binance at 21:21:59 UTC.
Less than a second later, orders appeared on Hyperliquid, where Trade XYZ lists contracts that track stocks. Around 10 addresses opened positions against six chip-linked contracts within 1.8 seconds, according to the source material.
Binance recorded about $21.9 million in SanDisk trading during the first minute, compared with roughly $3.1 million on Trade XYZ. The sequence shows how quickly activity on one crypto venue can spread to another when the same or similar stock-linked contracts are available across platforms.
The contracts were trading at a time when the actual shares were not. With Wall Street closed, investors could not use a live U.S. exchange quotation as a direct reference for the chip stocks. Instead, weekend prices were shaped by crypto-market participants trading against one another.
Monday’s opening will provide a comparison
Trade XYZ’s rules allow trading on its platform to establish reference prices until external stock quotations become available. Those outside prices are expected to return when U.S. markets reopen on Monday.
That reopening will offer the first direct comparison between the weekend contract prices and the prices at which the underlying shares trade in the regular stock market. The gap, if any, will indicate how closely the round-the-clock contracts tracked conventional share values while Wall Street was closed.
The episode also came after a difficult week for memory-chip shares. Investors had been considering the impact of stronger competition from Chinese chipmaker CXMT, according to the source material. No live stock price was available during Saturday’s liquidation event to independently confirm or reject the weekend move.
For traders, the distinction between an actual share and a crypto exchange contract that references it is significant. A stock’s regular-market price is formed during defined exchange hours, while perpetual contracts can continue trading overnight and on weekends. When the underlying market is inactive, the contract can experience abrupt moves, and leverage can magnify their consequences.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data at the stated times show the following market levels and changes:
- OriginTrail (TRAC): $0.3893847274, up 1.76% over 24 hours and 1.86% over seven days, as of October 19, 2026, at 22:08 +03:30.
- RealLink (REAL): $0.0100747766, down 86.56% over 24 hours and 86.35% over seven days, as of September 15, 2026, at 07:04 +03:30.
- USD.AI (CHIP): $0.0418245071, up 4.04% over 24 hours but down 29.07% over seven days, as of October 19, 2026, at 22:09 +03:30.
- Walrus (WAL): $0.0381890028, down 1.43% over 24 hours and up 7.16% over seven days, as of October 19, 2026, at 22:08 +03:30.
These figures are separate from the chip-stock contract liquidations described above and reflect Moneyiar’s supplied market data at the listed times.
