[SilasX]

Was LTC trading for $25 on that exchange, at that moment? If some big dump wiped out the available buyers and it became illiquid then that may have been all they could do to meet the margin: sell at huge discounts over a huge number of trades such that fees become significant.

AIUI, the way margin buying works is, the first, second, and third priorities are repaying the broker, and the moment your collateral looks like it might not be enough they will dump everything without caution to get the money back, which can result in making stupid (in hindsight) trades.

With that said, I do have a hard time believing there were no buyers at a price closer to $25, so that definitely seems shady. But margin buying is playing with fire and I'd say it could have been a lot worse ...