What happened to bitcoin and ethereum liquidations on August 17?
Total crypto liquidations reached $185.6 million in the 24 hours ending in the evening of August 17 ET, according to derivatives data from COINOTAG. Bitcoin accounted for $94.8 million of that total, Ethereum another $29.6 million. Shorts, not longs, took the bigger hit: 86% of the bitcoin liquidations and 64% of the ethereum liquidations came from short positions getting squeezed out.
That split matters. A long-liquidation cascade usually means price fell hard enough to force leveraged buyers to sell. A short-liquidation wave means the opposite: price moved up enough that traders betting against the market got forced to cover, adding its own upward pressure as those covering buys hit the order book.
Are bitcoin ETFs still seeing inflows?
Not this week. US spot bitcoin ETFs posted a net $389.7 million outflow for the week of August 10 to 14, their largest weekly outflow in six weeks. That follows $853.5 million of inflows the week before it, a sharp reversal in five trading days. Ether ETFs mirrored the pullback with a $2.26 million weekly net outflow through August 14, snapping five straight weeks of inflows.
The bitcoin outflow lines up with price action. BTC has been under pressure through the second week of August, and ETF flows tend to follow price rather than lead it over windows this short.
What does the Crypto Fear and Greed Index show?
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index sits at 41, in "Fear" territory, up from 27 a week earlier. The index has stayed in Fear for most of August despite the short squeeze in liquidations, a reminder that positioning data and sentiment surveys don't always move together on the same day.
What did this week's economic data show?
Two releases moved in opposite directions. The Empire State Manufacturing Index jumped to 20.6 in August from 15.6 in July, more than double the roughly 10-11 consensus estimate and its strongest reading in over four years. Housing starts told a weaker story: July starts fell to a 1.239 million annualized rate, down from June's revised 1.427 million, per the Census Bureau.
Factories are running hotter. Housing is cooling. Both are real, and they are not the same signal about the broader economy.
How did the VIX and stock market sentiment compare?
The VIX closed August 17 at 14.2, its lowest level of 2026, with the S&P 500 up roughly 16% year to date and several indexes at record highs. A VIX this low usually signals confidence, not anxiety. Strategists have flagged that reading as a caution sign given the still-unresolved Strait of Hormuz standoff and other geopolitical risk sitting underneath the calm. The Stock Market Fear and Greed Index sits at 59, in Neutral territory, a milder read than the VIX alone would suggest.
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