- Bitcoin moved above $77,000 during European trading Friday, marking its fifth consecutive day of gains. BTC was up around 8% over 24 hours and roughly 22% over the past seven days.
- Short sellers suffered another major round of losses, with about $1.2 billion in short positions wiped out over the latest 24-hour period. Total crypto liquidations stood at roughly $1.4 billion across 156,211 traders, CoinGlass data showed.
- The latest liquidations followed more than $3 billion in short positions being erased Thursday, the largest single-day total in records dating back to 2021. Combined short liquidations across the two sessions have now surpassed $4 billion.
- The largest single liquidation in the latest period was a $25.13 million Bitcoin position on Hyperliquid.
- Leveraged positions are liquidated when a market move pushes a trader’s losses beyond their available collateral, prompting the exchange to automatically close the position.
- Because most of the liquidated positions were bets on falling prices, their forced closure generated additional buying pressure. That helped push prices higher and triggered further liquidations in a cascading short squeeze.
- The magnitude of the liquidations is important because it shows how much of the rally may be coming from forced buying rather than fresh investor demand. Traders covering losing shorts are closing positions, not necessarily choosing to purchase Bitcoin at elevated prices.
- Hyperliquid’s HYPE token gained more than 4% to nearly $73, leading major cryptocurrencies over the past week with an advance of almost 27%.
- Ether climbed nearly 5% to around $2,350 and was up 24.5% over seven days. Dogecoin rose almost 9% to slightly above $0.08, while Solana gained more than 5% to just under $90. Both had advanced roughly 17% over the week.
- BNB jumped 6% to about $660, lifting its weekly gain to around 8%. Tron lagged, adding 1.5% to just under $0.34 and remaining almost unchanged over seven days.
- The current rally began Wednesday after the U.S. Treasury said it would increase the size of long-duration Treasury buybacks from $2 billion to $4 billion per operation. The move eased conditions in the roughly $30 trillion Treasury market and improved risk sentiment.
- Bitcoin subsequently cleared resistance around $66,600, putting $76,000 into focus as the next major price level.
- Washington also provided a boost. President Donald Trump called on Congress to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act at a White House event attended by executives from Coinbase, Gemini, Ripple and Chainlink Labs.
- Bitcoin’s market capitalization has risen to around $1.5 trillion, though the cryptocurrency remains approximately 40% below its record above $126,000 set last October.
BTC, ETH and SOL Surge as Another $1B in Bearish Positions Vanish
