Why Losses for Bitcoin Speculators Keep Rising with Each Crypto Winter?

In my view, the first real crypto winter was the cryptocurrency market crash of 2018. By that time, a sufficient number of exchanges had appeared, and the market capitalisation of digital assets had exceeded $1 trillion.

Despite the sharp decline in the value of Bitcoin in 2018, many of my friends who were speculators made huge profits by trading intraday. They mainly traded on the BitMEX exchange, which dominated the crypto derivatives market.

The level of losses incurred by speculators can easily be estimated by the margin calls received due to the forced closure of positions. In 2018, these amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.

On 12 March 2020, $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin futures were closed due to margin calls, and on 19 May 2021, liquidations set a new record of $8.5 billion. In 2022, I returned to intraday trading on the Cryptomus exchange. Judging by feedback from traders on the forum, their profitability from intraday trading only increased. A lot was especially earned on 'Trump trading' from autumn 2024 throughout the year.

Does anyone remember the Bitcoin crash on 10 October 2025? Liquidations exceeded $20 billion. I don't think that's the limit.

The reason for the losses is the sharp increase in volatility. Take a look at the chart to see how each new crypto winter sets a record for unpredictable price movements and increased fluctuation ranges.

This can lead to unexpected stop-loss triggers, which have to be increased or abandoned altogether. Losses are growing and the number of losing trades is forcing traders to abandon strategies and optimise previously profitable trading systems 'on the fly'.

Until volatility returns to average levels, your stop-losses will consume all your profits. Abandoning stop-losses forces traders to remain in a losing position until a margin call.