Crypto Shorts Suffer $300M Flush As Bitcoin Hits $80,000

Reason to trust Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality Created by industry experts and meticulously reviewed The highest standards in reporting and publishing How Our News is Made Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality Ad discliamer Morbi pretium leo et nisl aliquam mollis. Quisque arcu lorem, ultricies quis pellentesque nec, ullamcorper eu odio. Bearish cryptocurrency bets have seen a liquidation squeeze during the past day as Bitcoin and other assets have gone through a price surge. Bitcoin Crosses $80,000 For First Time In Months Bitcoin has enjoyed a surge over the past day that took its price to a peak of $80,500, the highest that the cryptocurrency has traded since the end of January, when BTC was retracing that month’s recovery rally. Related Reading Bitcoin DATs Capitulate—Could This Rare Signal Mark A Bottom? 2 days ago The chart below shows how the latest price action has looked for the asset. The price of the coin seems to have surged over the last few days | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView From the graph, it’s visible that Bitcoin has pulled back a bit since the high, as its price is now floating around $79,900. Nonetheless, the coin remains above recent levels. As is usually the case, the rest of the digital assets have also followed in the footsteps of the original cryptocurrency with recovery spikes of their own. All this market volatility has naturally meant that chaos has developed on the derivatives side of the sector. Crypto Derivatives Liquidations Exceed $370 Million According to data from CoinGlass , the latest volatility in the cryptocurrency sector has resulted in liquidations of a significant size. “ Liquidation ” here refers to the forceful closure that any open contract undergoes after it has amassed losses of a specific percentage. The chances of a contract being liquidated depend on price volatility and how much leverage the investor has opted for. In the digital asset market, coins regularly show volatile swings and leverage usage tends to be high, so events where a large amount of contracts are caught out aren’t rare. One such event has occurred during the past day, and below is a table that showcases the numbers relevant to this derivatives flush. Looks like short liquidations have crossed the $302 million mark | Source: CoinGlass In total, over $371 million in cryptocurrency contracts have been liquidated over the last 24 hours. Out of these, $302 million of the contracts were short positions. This means that more than 81% of the liquidations involved the investors betting on a bearish outcome for the market. In terms of the individual assets, Bitcoin-related positions contributed the most toward the event, with over $179 million in contracts involved. The heatmap related to the latest crypto market liquidations | Source: CoinGlass Ethereum once again was second on the list with $95 million in liquidations. Together, the top two coins by market cap made up for roughly 74% of the total derivatives flush from the past day. Related Reading Bitcoin Rejected At Key Cost Basis Zone—Is $68,000 The Next Support? 3 days ago A mass liquidation event like the one from the past day is popularly known as a squeeze . During a squeeze, a sharp swing in the price triggers a large amount of simultaneous liquidations, which feed back into the price move, unleashing a further cascade of liquidations. As shorts made up for the majority of the latest squeeze, the event would be called a short squeeze. Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com