Ventuals SpaceX perps see $1.5M in liquidations after flash crash

A 45% flash crash in 30 minutes on SpaceX pre-market perpetual futures (SPACEX-USDH) triggered $1.5 million in liquidations on Ventuals, a platform for trading pre-IPO stock tokens built on Hyperliquid (HYPE), CoinDesk reported. The contract plunged from $2,277 to a low of $1,254 before recovering to $2,169. The rapid decline forced the liquidation of 405 users holding 1,393 positions. A lack of market liquidity was cited as the primary cause. A large sell order reportedly swept the order book, causing a sharp price drop that heavily impacted retail investors using high leverage with insufficient collateral. The SPACEX-USDH pair had a 24-hour trading volume of $4.87 million and open interest of $2.9 million. SpaceX is reportedly targeting an initial public offering (IPO) in June, and multiple crypto platforms have been launching related derivative products.