Bitcoin continued its upward move on Monday after breaking out of its September range, trading around $84,984 in late European hours. BTC gained 5.4% over 24 hours and remained well above the Sept. 4 high of $82,284.
The rally has been accompanied by heavy short liquidations, indicating that forced buying is contributing significantly to the move. About $746 million in crypto positions were wiped out over the past day, including $647.9 million in shorts. Another $159.9 million was liquidated in the latest hour, with shorts making up 95% of that amount.
Bitcoin short positions accounted for $277.5 million of the 24-hour liquidations, while ether shorts represented $122.8 million, according to CoinGlass.
Despite the liquidation wave, traders have continued adding leverage. Total open interest across crypto markets rose 7.59% to $156 billion, while daily trading volume increased 39% to $224 billion. The data suggests traders are replacing liquidated positions instead of reducing their derivatives exposure.
Leverage Builds Across Crypto
Futures positioning has started to favor buyers, with the taker long-short volume ratio reaching almost 53% for longs. The shift indicates that aggressive buying is becoming more prominent as prices move higher.
Bitcoin futures open interest has climbed above 700,000 BTC, its highest level in several weeks. Although still below previous records, the increase signals renewed demand for leveraged bitcoin exposure.
Whale activity on Binance remains divided. The whale account long-short ratio is near 1.0, showing little imbalance between buy and sell market orders. However, the overall whale derivatives position ratio remains above 2.0, pointing to substantial leveraged long exposure among larger traders.
CRO has seen an especially sharp buildup in futures activity. Open interest has reached a record 536 million CRO as the token rallies. The rise in leverage is also creating a warning sign, with annualized perpetual funding rates approaching 60%. Extremely high funding costs can indicate overcrowded longs and increase the possibility of a long squeeze.
Bitcoin and ether are registering the strongest positive 24-hour cumulative volume delta readings among the top 20 cryptocurrencies. The positive CVD readings point to aggressive market-order buying.
Volatility expectations have risen only slightly. Bitcoin’s BVIV and ether’s EVIV 30-day implied volatility indexes remain relatively contained, suggesting traders are not pricing a highly disorderly market.
Options positioning continues to favor the upside. Deribit data shows sustained demand for bitcoin and ether calls, while a large ether call spread was traded through Paradigm earlier Monday.
AI Tokens Take the Lead
Sui was among the strongest major tokens, rising 12.3% since midnight to $1.0073 and gaining 21.4% over 24 hours. Its futures open interest jumped 28.9% to $402 million, indicating that derivatives participation is increasing alongside the price.
Artificial intelligence tokens have taken over leadership from layer-2 cryptocurrencies. FET of the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance gained 8.9% to $0.1911, while Bittensor’s TAO rose 7.0% to $280.13. Venice’s VVV had climbed as much as 16% earlier in the session.
DeFi tokens also remained higher, although the sector’s momentum has moderated. Aave gained 7.0% to $147.26, while Ether.fi’s ETHFI increased 6.4% to $0.7691.
NEAR, which had led the weekend advance, gained 2.9% since midnight to $4.29 and remained 20% higher over 24 hours. Its open interest rose 26.8% to $882 million, showing that traders have maintained leveraged positions despite the slower price growth.
Dogecoin advanced 10.2% over 24 hours to $0.0939, accompanied by a 15% increase in open interest. Avalanche climbed 14.1% to $11.22, while its open interest rose 19.5%.
The wider market also moved higher, with 95 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 constituents gaining and the index rising 3.0%. Market leadership has rotated from Friday, when smaller-cap and DeFi tokens were driving the advance.
Macro markets were comparatively stable. Brent crude was near $101.97 after reaching $108 earlier in September, while gold fell 0.65% to $4,350 and silver declined 0.32% to $66.24.
