313 · Doug Colkitt - When Crypto Markets Break: Liquidations, Leverage, and Markets Under Stress

About this episode

The episode explores the dynamics of crypto market breakdowns, focusing on leverage, liquidity, and liquidation cascades with expert Doug Colkitt.

In this episode, we examine what actually happens when crypto markets break — how leverage builds beneath the surface, liquidity disappears, and liquidation cascades turn volatility into systemic failure. Doug Colkitt, a quantitative trader and DeFi builder whose experience spans both traditional finance and crypto market structure. Doug began his career on Wall Street at Citigroup before moving into high-frequency trading at Citadel during the 2008 financial crisis. He later built and traded his own systems across futures, volatility products, and international equities, including running a major market-making operation in Turkish stocks. Today, Doug focuses on crypto and DeFi infrastructure, working with perpetual futures, liquidation mechanics, and exchange design. We discuss why traders still get wiped out when they think they’re hedged, how liquidation cascades accelerate, and what recent market failures reveal about leverage and market structure under stress. Links +Resources: Ambient Finance on X (Twitter): @AmbientFinance Website: https://ambient.finance Sponsor of Chat With Traders Podcast: ● Trade The Pool: ⁠⁠http://www.tradethepool.com⁠⁠ Time Stamps: Please note: Exact…

People in this episode

Hosts: Ian Cox, Tessa Dao

Guest: Doug Colkitt

Topics covered

• crypto markets
• liquidation
• leverage
• systemic failure
• DeFi infrastructure
• market structure
• trading strategies

Keywords

• crypto
• liquidation cascades
• leverage
• market structure
• DeFi
• trading
• high-frequency trading

Sponsors

Trade The Pool

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Citigroup, Citadel, Ambient Finance

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