If you’re following crypto, on 11 October 2025 (or 10 October depending on timezone), there was what’s probably the biggest liquidation cascade ever recorded. Around $20B wiped out in a few hours, some sources say closer to $50B. You can find the details everywhere. Nobody saw it coming.
I’m not gonna talk about the event itself. I want to talk about what happened to me.
I’ve always been into crypto and blockchain, but I’m not really the trading type. I don’t do the “actual” trading. I focus more on the risk-managed side, stuff like point farming or delta-neutral strategies. The kind of thing where you’re supposed to be protected from big moves because you’re hedged on both sides.
Supposed to be.
I woke up and checked my phone, and everything was already gone. The crash moved so fast that my hedges didn’t hold. Liquidated. By the time I even saw what happened, there was nothing left to do about it. Just damage.
And the timing was funny because that same week I happened to be reading Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke. The first chapters are all about separating the decision from the result. A good decision doesn’t always give a good result, and a good result doesn’t mean the decision was right. There’s always some chance of things going completely sideways. I just didn’t expect this one.
But that’s part of the game. And as degenspartan infamously said:
“Just don’t die. If you are still alive, there’s no other way but to make it.”
So I iterate. Tweak the algorithm, add more guard rails, retest, upgrade the server so it can handle more transactions per second, and prepare better for next time.
I didn’t start from zero (even though it feels like it), but the market only took the money and the time. It didn’t take the skill.
We go higher from here.