Bitcoin traded up to an intraday high of $87,000 before easing back to roughly $85,000, a move that Cointribune reported was amplified by a wave of forced closures of leveraged positions. Across the crypto market, about $1 billion in positions were liquidated within 24 hours, with shorts accounting for the bulk of the total at nearly $900 million.
Bitcoin’s climb began from close to $75,000 the previous week, and the $87,000 level had not been reached since January. Cointribune reported that more than 139,000 traders were liquidated and that the largest single position exceeded $20 million. Bitcoin-only figures showed $454 million of liquidated short positions against just $53 million of longs, meaning shorts made up nearly 90% of the most recent data.
Also read: Bitcoin capitulation ‘twice as weak’ as spot liquidity turns supportive, Glassnode reports
Key facts
- Bitcoin peaked at $87,000 before falling back toward $85,000, per Cointribune.
- Around $1 billion in positions were closed in 24 hours, with nearly $900 million from shorts.
- Open interest on derivatives rose 7.59% to $156 billion, and 24-hour volume jumped 39% to $224 billion.
- Bitcoin’s market capitalization reached $1.72 trillion, according to News.bitcoin, leaving year-to-date losses under 2%.
- News.bitcoin reported that weekly net ETF flows remained negative at roughly $300 million despite heavier ETF trading volume.
How the squeeze unfolded
A short position is a bet that price will fall. When leverage is used and the market moves sharply against it, the exchange closes the position, which usually requires buying back Bitcoin. Those forced purchases lift the price, trigger further liquidations and create a cascade — the short squeeze.
Cointribune described two waves, both also documented by News.bitcoin. The first carried Bitcoin from $81,525 to just over $85,250 in two hours. After a pullback to $81,150 around 6:40 a.m. EST, a second surge pushed the price to $86,332 and then $87,000. Once the $82,000 level that had capped recoveries since early September gave way, Bitcoin neared $84,000 in under five minutes.
Also read: Bitcoin enters 'initial phase' of new bull market, but $83K remains key: CryptoQuant
The two outlets describe the scale of the event differently. Cointribune initially cited $746.6 million liquidated, including $647.9 million of short bets, before later reporting a total above $1 billion. News.bitcoin put the bitcoin short figure at more than $454 million and the broader market figure at nearly $782 million in short bets against $144 million in longs.
Why it matters
The squeeze erased a stretch in which rallies faded each time Bitcoin neared $82,000, leaving traders stuck in a $77,000 to $82,000 range. Liquidations are the notional value of closed positions, not fresh spot money entering the market, so the move mostly measures how exposed leveraged traders were to a fast swing.
Risk exposure has not fallen. Open interest and funding rates sit above their high bands, so a sudden drop would put long positions at risk of their own liquidation cascade. At the same time, Glassnode noted that spot and perpetual buyers led the advance, with taker flow flipping to net buying — meaning automatic short closures were not the only source of demand.
What to watch
Cointribune flagged $88,000 as the next resistance, with $90,000 and $95,000 in view if it breaks; $80,000 to $82,000 is the main short-term support. It added that the path of liquidations, open interest and spot purchases matters more than the move to $87,000 itself. News.bitcoin highlighted the roughly $300 million in weekly ETF outflows as the main drag on the spot market.
This article is not financial advice, and crypto markets are volatile and unpredictable.
Reported by cointribune.com.
Sources: Cointribune, News.bitcoin
