Bitcoin Retests $70,000, Fuels $300 Million in Crypto Shorts Liquidation

Bitcoin (BTC) has finally reclaimed $70,000 following a broader crypto market rebound. This recent rally soon triggered $300 million worth of liquidations in short positions across the market in just 24 hours.

$300 million crypto market shorts liquidation

As disclosed on the CoinGlass liquidation heatmap, the crypto market experienced total liquidations reaching $325 million in the past 24 hours. 

Of these liquidations, liquidations from short position holders across the entire crypto market amounted to $300 million. That means traders who were bearish got forced out, and their buybacks added fuel to upward moves.

In crypto, a short position, usually on perpetual futures, is a bet that the price will go down. Traders borrow crypto assets, sell them immediately at the current price and hope to buy it back cheaper later.

If the price surges instead, the position starts losing money. As U.Today reported earlier, Hyperliquid whale James Wynn lost $99.1 million betting against Bitcoin.

James previously had $100 million in his portfolio but decided to short Bitcoin, possibly due to recent price volatility. 

He assumed that Bitcoin would continue to lose momentum, but the Bitcoin market moved strongly against his bet. The leading climbed by over 3.4% in 24 hours.

Note that exchanges automatically liquidate the position to prevent further losses when losses eat into the margin.

Closing a short requires buying back the asset. When many shorts get liquidated at once, this creates a wave of forced buying, which can push the price even higher.

Bitcoin lead crypto liquidations

According to CoinGlass data, Bitcoin is leading the crypto market in liquidations seen over the past 24 hours. So far, a total of $435,170 worth of BTC has been liquidated.

Long traders contributed to the bulk liquidations, which reached $435,030. Short Bitcoin traders, on the other hand, only amounted to $139.33.

Amid the ongoing liquidations, Bitcoin retested $70,000, a key psychological level it had interacted with before. The $70,000 level had acted as support, which triggered immediate short-term price rallies.

However, Bitcoin soon dropped from $70,000 and is now trading at $69,502. Still, the top coin is up 3.9% over the past 24 hours and 2.2% in the last week.

Additionally, the trading volume increased by more than 105% to $34.9 million. Such a surge suggests increased investor participation, which could potentially help improve the price outlook.