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Wednesday saw an unusual spike in Bitcoin (BTC) short liquidations, with a 3,368% increase over the course of just one hour. About $3.27 million in short positions were liquidated, compared to just $97,000 in longs. As a result, it was one of the most one-sided events in recent weeks.
No dramatic news or extreme market shifts, but a price push higher did set it off. Within that short window, Bitcoin climbed from a little over $106,400 to just under $107,400, thus triggering a wave of forced short exits. While this brought BTC closer to its all-time high of $109,114.88 set in January, it also put extra pressure on traders betting against further upside.
Instead of price alone, the liquidation imbalance appears to reflect market positioning. It is a reaction that suggests many shorts were overleveraged or set with tight stop-losses, even though the increase was rather moderate.
Stepping back to a broader perspective, a total of $239.47 million in liquidations occurred across all cryptocurrencies in the last 24 hours, with most of the damage coming from shorts.
During the one-hour period when the BTC spike occurred, $11.01 million in positions were liquidated, with shorts accounting for $10.29 million. The same pattern continued throughout the day, suggesting a wider flush of bearish trades rather than a reaction to a single event.
Contained price volatility masked the underlying leverage and positioning. Now that Bitcoin is approaching a key resistance level near its all-time high, conditions for traders on both sides may tighten in the next few days.
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team