Bitcoin Rally Triggers $648M Short Liquidations as Price Tops $85K

Bitcoin extended its breakout above the September trading range on Monday, reaching $84,984 during late European trading. BTC was up 5.4% over 24 hours, keeping the cryptocurrency well above the Sept. 4 high of $82,284.

The latest advance has been closely linked to the unwinding of bearish positions. Roughly $746 million worth of crypto positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours, including $647.9 million in short positions. Liquidations remained elevated, with another $159.9 million cleared out during the most recent hour and shorts accounting for 95% of that figure.

Bitcoin short liquidations totaled $277.5 million, while ether shorts contributed $122.8 million, CoinGlass data showed.

Despite the forced closures, derivatives activity has expanded. Aggregate open interest rose 7.59% to $156 billion, while trading volume over the same 24-hour period jumped 39% to $224 billion. The simultaneous increase suggests traders are rebuilding leveraged positions as the market moves higher rather than reducing risk.

Traders Increase Long Exposure

Futures positioning has shifted modestly toward the bullish side. The taker long-short volume ratio is now close to 53% in favor of longs, indicating that market buyers are becoming more aggressive after several weeks of relatively balanced positioning.

Bitcoin’s futures open interest has also crossed 700,000 BTC for the first time in weeks. Although the level is still below previous peaks, the rise signals renewed appetite for leverage as spot prices climb.

Binance whale indicators remain divided. The whale account long-short ratio is around 1.0, pointing to broadly balanced market-order activity. In contrast, the overall whale derivatives position ratio is above 2.0, suggesting that large traders maintain a substantial bias toward leveraged long positions.

CRO is experiencing a particularly strong increase in futures activity. Open interest has reached a record 536 million tokens as its price advances. At the same time, annualized perpetual funding rates have approached 60%, indicating that long positions are becoming heavily concentrated. Such extreme funding levels can leave the market exposed to increased volatility and a potential long squeeze.

Bitcoin and ether are also showing strong buyer activity in spot and derivatives markets. Their 24-hour cumulative volume delta readings are the highest among the top 20 cryptocurrencies, reflecting aggressive buying through market orders.

Volatility gauges have moved only slightly higher. The 30-day BVIV and EVIV indexes for bitcoin and ether remain relatively subdued, indicating that options traders are still expecting a relatively orderly advance.

Options activity continues to favor upside exposure. Traders are buying calls on both bitcoin and ether on Deribit, while a large ether call spread was executed through Paradigm earlier Monday.

AI Tokens Gain Ground

Sui has been one of the strongest major-token performers, rising 12.3% since midnight to $1.0073 and gaining 21.4% over 24 hours. Its futures open interest climbed 28.9% to $402 million, showing that leveraged positioning is increasing alongside the rally.

AI-focused tokens have also moved to the forefront, replacing layer-2 assets as key drivers of the market advance. FET rose 8.9% to $0.1911, while Bittensor’s TAO gained 7.0% to $280.13. Venice’s VVV was up as much as 16% earlier in the session.

DeFi tokens remain higher, although their contribution to the rally has eased compared with Friday. Aave advanced 7.0% to $147.26, while Ether.fi’s ETHFI rose 6.4% to $0.7691.

NEAR has lost some of its weekend momentum, rising 2.9% since midnight to $4.29 while remaining 20% higher over 24 hours. Open interest increased 26.8% to $882 million, indicating that traders have continued holding leveraged positions despite the slower price gains.

Dogecoin rose 10.2% over 24 hours to $0.0939, with open interest increasing 15%. Avalanche gained 14.1% to $11.22 as its open interest climbed 19.5%. Both tokens have recovered following weaker performance in the middle of last week.

Market breadth remains strong, with 95 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 constituents higher and the index up 3.0%. The leaders have changed since Friday, when smaller-cap cryptocurrencies and DeFi tokens were at the forefront.

In traditional markets, conditions were relatively stable. Brent crude traded near $101.97 after briefly reaching $108 earlier in September. Gold declined 0.65% to $4,350, while silver slipped 0.32% to $66.24.