Bitcoin Surges Past $85,000 as Short Liquidations Top $750M
What happened: Bitcoin climbed above $85,000 for the first time since January, gaining over 5% in 24 hours.
What happened: Bitcoin climbed above $85,000 for the first time since January, gaining over 5% in 24 hours. CoinGlass data shows approximately $750 million in crypto positions were liquidated, with $648 million of those being shorts. The largest single BTC liquidation order was $11.3 million on Binance. Other major tokens also rallied, with ETH up 5.6% and SOL up 7.2%.
Why it matters: The surge was driven by a massive short squeeze, forcing out bearish bets and triggering a wave of liquidations across exchanges. Despite the forced closures, open interest in crypto derivatives rose 7.59% to $156 billion, indicating that traders are quickly re-entering the market rather than stepping back. The move comes amid macro uncertainty, with the Federal Reserve recently hiking rates by 25 basis points and markets pricing in a 56% chance of another hike in October.
Source: The Block