Bitcoin Clears $71K as Record $3B Short Liquidations Fuel Crypto Surge

• Crypto traders betting on lower prices lost roughly $2.74 billion in 24 hours as Bitcoin rallied, surpassing the amount of short-side liquidations seen during the October 2025 crash.
• Nearly $2.7 billion in bearish positions were forcibly closed as Bitcoin climbed above $71,000, marking the largest short liquidation wave in data going back to 2021.
• Total crypto liquidations neared $3 billion across 172,108 traders, according to CoinGlass. Shorts accounted for about 92% of the total, while long positions represented roughly $257 million.
• A liquidation occurs when an exchange automatically closes a leveraged position after a trader’s losses reduce their available margin below the required level.

Bitcoin Rally Triggers Massive Short Squeeze

• The size of Wednesday’s short wipeout exceeded the short liquidations recorded during the October 2025 crash. On Oct. 10, 2025, Bitcoin plunged after reaching a record above $126,000, resulting in about $19 billion of total liquidations in a single day.
• That remains the biggest deleveraging event in crypto history, with short positions accounting for around $2.47 billion.
• Wednesday’s short liquidations were larger than that figure, although the latest rally did not produce comparable losses among long traders.
• Bitcoin was trading near $69,100 during Thursday’s Asian session, up almost 8% over 24 hours after briefly reaching about $69,900.
• The cryptocurrency has recovered more than $5,700 from Wednesday’s low around $64,100, returning to levels last seen in early June.

BTC Accounts for Largest Share of Short Liquidations

• The squeeze developed rapidly, with more than $1 billion in Bitcoin shorts liquidated within roughly an hour. BTC short liquidations totaled about $1.42 billion over the full 24-hour period.
• Ether accounted for approximately $1.13 billion of the overall liquidations, while Solana contributed around $104.67 million.
• The largest individual position liquidated was a Bitcoin trade worth $48.8 million on Hyperliquid.

Liquidation Figures May Understate Actual Losses

• The record should be treated cautiously because crypto liquidation data has reporting limitations. Binance restricted its liquidation reporting in April 2021, while CoinGlass records only one liquidation order per second from the exchange.
• That means both Wednesday’s total and historical comparisons could be lower than the actual amount of positions forcibly closed.

$71,000 Becomes Bitcoin’s Next Key Level

• Bitcoin’s ability to hold above $71,000 through the European session will be an important indicator of whether the rally can continue.
• A short squeeze this large can rapidly remove bearish positions and reduce the forced-buying pressure that helped push prices higher. If new demand does not replace that buying, Bitcoin could surrender some of its recent gains.