$100 Million in Bitcoin (BTC) Positions Liquidated in Most Painful Session for Bears in Months

The last 48 hours have been a nightmare for bears in crypto. Those who considered the ongoing upsurge a "dead cat bounce" and opened short positions witnessed nine-digit liquidations. For bearish traders of Bitcoin (BTC) and some altcoins, yesterday's session was the most merciless since early Q1, 2023.

$227 million in shorts and longs liquidated as crypto recovers

On June 21, 2023, tens of thousands of traders were liquidated thanks to the increased volatility of major cryptocurrencies. In total, $226,998,000 in short and long positions were erased across multiple coins. Bears are responsible for about 80% of these liquidations.

According to statistics shared by crypto analytics system Coinglass (formerly Bybt), Bitcoin (BTC) bears lost $80.93 million yesterday. By contrast, the losses of bulls were four times lower.

That said, the largest liquidation of Bitcoin (BTC) shorts in more than three months was registered by analysts. Also, Litecoin (LTC) bears came through the most painful session in months with over $2.72 million lost.

Although Ethereum (ETH) traders were not affected much, the largest single liquidation was spotted in the ETH/USD long position on BitMEX: an unlucky trader lost $2.1 million in one deal.

Flamingo Finance (FLM), Sui Network (SUI), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and XRP traders were also hit by increased volatility.

PEPE traders among worst sufferers of crypto volatility

Meme coin traders also faced notable liquidations. Over $10 million was lost by PEPE bulls and bears, while DOGE enthusiasts lost $2.59 million in the last 24 hours.

In the last six days, the net capitalization of cryptocurrency markets increased by 15%. Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, jumped by more than 22.1% in one week.

The upsurge of cryptocurrency prices and volatility should be attributed to yet another phase of euphoria around Bitcoin ETFs.

In recent days, a number of asset management heavyweights, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco and so on, shared its plans to request Bitcoin ETF approvals from the U.S. SEC.