Morning Crypto Report: XRP Kicks Off 2026 With 2,198% Liquidation Imbalance, Tether (USDT) Stuns With $780 Million Bitcoin Purchase, Meme Coin on Binance Loses 88% After Hacker Attack

The first trading day of 2026 started with leverage getting punished across majors and smaller tokens at the same time, which is why the liquidation map looks like a mix of big blocks and weird micro-stories living next to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Over the past 24 hours, total liquidations reached $230.78 million, with $151.90 million in long liquidations versus $78.88 million in shorts. The largest single liquidation happened on Hyperliquid, a BTC/USD position worth $5.85 million.

TL;DR

• XRP posted a 2,198% liquidation imbalance with $7.05 million total liquidations, almost all from longs.
• Tether disclosed a $780 million Bitcoin buy tied to 8,888.888888 BTC, bringing its wallet total to 96,370 BTC.
• Meme coin BROCCOLI714 on Binance crashed 88% after a fast spike above $0.15, tied to a hacker-linked story involving a market-maker account.

XRP kicks off 2026 with 2,198% liquidation imbalance

XRP’s headline number comes from how one-sided the wipeout was. CoinGlass data for XRP shows $7.05 million in liquidations, with $6.75 million attributed to longs and only $307,850 to shorts. That is the kind of ratio that leads to an “imbalance” story, because it is a directional hit that targets one side of positioning.

The XRP/USDT chart shows what that means. Looking at the bigger picture, we can see a dip into the $1.82 area before a rebound toward the $1.85 zone. This lines up with the idea that the market forced long liquidations during the drop and then allowed the price to recover once leverage was cleared.

From a practical standpoint, $1.82 is the recent downside extreme, $1.85 per XRP is the current decision zone, and the $1.88 to $1.90 area above is where earlier selling waves were visible.

The reason liquidation imbalance matters is not because it predicts direction on its own, but because it tells us the market just removed a bit of one-sided exposure, which changes what it takes to move the price next.

Tether (USDT) unveils $780 million Bitcoin acquisition

The second theme is a reserve story with numbers that crypto speculators and long-term holders both watch, because it is a rare case where the biggest stablecoin issuer puts hard BTC amounts in front of the market. It was Tether, who withdrew 8,889 BTC from Bitfinex today, and now the company holds 96,370 BTC valued at $8.5 billion.

The post by CEO Paolo Ardoino says that Tether acquired 8,888.888888 BTC in Q4, 2025. That is the figure tied to the $780 million headline. If you divide the stunning amount by 8,888.888888 BTC, you get about $87,750 per BTC — that is in line with the late-December prices we saw across the market.

The important thing for the story is that Tether keeps showing Bitcoin as a main part of its reserve strategy, and it is doing it with numbers big enough to make a splash as a macro-style headline, even on a day when liquidations are all over the place.

Binance meme coin BROCCOLI714 loses 88% after hacker hit

Binance meme coin BROCCOLI714 lost 88% after a hacker-linked incident, turning a fast-rising ticker into the day’s loudest microcap wipeout.

The extra twist is that BROCCOLI714 was one of the Broccoli-themed tokens that caught fire after Binance founder Changpeng Zhao referenced his dog’s name “Broccoli,” which helped the token get attention fast and made the collapse travel even faster across Binance-focused feeds.

The sell-off is being tied to a scenario where an attacker gained access to market-maker accounts on Binance and tried to move compromised funds through coordinated activity in a low-liquidity token.

The alleged sequence is simple: buy spot using the stolen funds, use other accounts to place futures trades, then route value through coordinated trades between accounts. BROCCOLI714’s thin order book made it a practical vehicle for a quick price push and a violent reversal.

On the TradingView chart, BROCCOLI714 was trading back around $0.019 after the earlier burst above $0.15 turned into a straight drop and then a flat, low-level grind. That “up fast, down faster” pattern is how an 88% crash headline gets born in minutes, especially in a thin book.

The liquidation map shows that there is $6.46 million for BROCCOLI714, which suggests that the reversal did not just scare spot buyers away — it forced leveraged positions out at speed.

Crypto market outlook

In the meantime, the mood on crypto timelines is almost aggressively bullish with the “time to buy,” “this year will be green” and “macro is screaming bull run” posts all over X.

Day one does not need to be spent watching every candle tick. And judging by today’s report stories, skipping the screens for the opener can mean one fewer day available for disappointments.

• XRP: watch the range at $1.8493-$1.8552 and keep $1.82 as the downside line if $1.85 fails to hold.
• Bitcoin (BTC): watch for acceptance above about $87,750 as the Tether Q4 buy reference, or a return below that level if it rejects.