At 18:30 UTC on April 1, 2025, the prices of several altcoins on Binance suddenly and dramatically changed.

At 18:30 UTC on April 1, 2025, the prices of several altcoins on Binance suddenly and dramatically changed. The prices of ACT/USDT

The cryptocurrency market is known for its volatility, but recent price changes in several altcoins on Binance have attracted unusual attention and criticism.

At 18:30 UTC on April 1, the prices of ACT/USDT, DEXE/USDT, and DF/USDT all dropped dramatically. ACT dropped by over 49%, DEXE by over 23%, and DF by over 16% during the same time frame.

For context, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) dropped by about 7% and then stabilized at that level. The price changes of many altcoins tend to be affected by changes in the price of Bitcoin.

The large drops in the prices of these three altcoins and the time frame of the drops are what made the price changes noteworthy.

On Monday evening, multiple altcoins on Binance experienced sharp declines. ACT/USDT dropped over 49% within 30 minutes, while DEXE/USDT fell more than 23% and DF/USDT declined over 16% in the same period.

The sudden dips were triggered by large sell orders executed in a short time frame, leading to significant price drops for the respective altcoins.

This might be related to Binance adjusting its margin and leverage tiers on Monday, offering traders more room to utilize those tools. Notably, the updated tiers now allow for a maximum leverage of 5x for BTC and ETH, while other tokens like ADA, BNB, and LTC have a 3x maximum leverage. Previously, the maximum leverage tiers varied based on the tokens, with some tokens like APT and DEXE having a 5x maximum leverage, while others like ACT and ABNB had a 3x maximum leverage.

However, it seems that traders were mostly using these tools to short the market.

A dramatic drop in price was immediately caused by a large number of sell orders that came in all at once and overwhelmed the market. On Binance, the price of $ACT was just about to fall when the exchange adjusted its margin and leverage tiers to give traders more room to use those tools.

These weren’t traders who were just using margin to double-down on their long positions, either. When they were using these tools, they were mostly using them to short the market.

One of the most important happenings that worked to bring about the crash was the liquidation of a position held by a whale, which was valued at $3.79 million. This position was liquidated at a price of $0.1877, and the event sent shockwaves through the market, which was already struggling from a lack of sufficient buy support due to the volume of sell orders. The whale’s liquidation drove the price of $ACT down by over 50% from its recent highs, compounding the price decline that was already in motion.

Binance updated leverage & margin tiers on tokens like $ACT — and a whale got liquidated for $3.79M at $0.1877.

Since then, the price of $ACT has plunged more than 50%.https://t.co/MT0EgNW8ib pic.twitter.com/CRuTR9bwSh— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 1, 2025

The liquidation of whales and the intensifying sell orders caused $ACT to drop like a rock from a price point that had been much higher just prior. Few traders, in fact, seemed to see the plummet coming or were prepared for it. The immediate price action that sent the token lower was triggered by a fast-paced group of sellers, but those sellers were liquidating from large positions. And in crypto, large position liquidators tend to be market makers in some way.

At the same time, other altcoins on Binance suffered severe drops. $ACT wasn’t the only one affected. Tokens like DEXE and DF were also hit hard and fell significantly. DEXE dropped over 23%, and DF was down 16%. My guess is that as long as large sell orders are hitting the market, other tokens are also at risk.

This was also accompanied by a surge in spot trading volume, which was something of a counterintuitive reaction to the price declines. As traders reacted to these sudden price moves, either trying to profit from the volatility or protect themselves from further losses, we saw an increase in spot trading volume. Prices were declining, but a large number of traders had decided to bet against the price declines. This in turn added even more pressure to the prices, causing prices to fall even further.

For a lot of people, the recent steep and sudden drops have led to queries regarding the overall strength of the market, particularly when it comes to the smaller altcoins that are much more likely to be hit hard by a sell-off. While Bitcoin and Ethereum remain more stable, altcoins such as $ACT, $DEXE, and $DF are still primed to take