Bitcoin, ether and solana climb as another $1 billion shorts get wiped out
Bitcoin tops $77,000, ether, solana surge as another $1 billion of shorts wiped out
- Bitcoin rose above $77,000 in European trading, up about 8% in 24 hours and 22% over the week.
- More than $4 billion in bearish crypto bets have been liquidated over two days, fueling a mechanically driven rally as short sellers were forced to cover their positions.
- The latest advance is tied to looser Treasury market conditions and supportive signals from Washington, even as bitcoin’s $1.5 trillion market value remains about 40% below last October’s record high above $126,000.
Bitcoin BTC$77,115.29 rose above $77,000 in European morning hours on Friday as it advanced for a fifth straight day. The largest cryptocurrency is up about 8% over the past 24 hours and 22% over the past week.
Short sellers took another beating, as roughly $1.2 billion of short positions were liquidated over 24 hours out of $1.4 billion in total, across 156,211 traders, CoinGlass data show.
That follows the $3 billion of shorts wiped out on Thursday, the largest single-day figure in records going back to 2021, bringing the two-day total to more than $4 billion. The largest individual position closed in the latest session was a $25.13 million bitcoin trade on Hyperliquid.
A liquidation occurs when a trader borrows to make a larger bet than their money would cover, the market moves against them, and the exchange closes the position automatically before the losses exceed the amount they put down. These were traders betting that the price would fall, and each forced closure pushed prices up, creating a cascade of liquidations.
The size of the number matters because it separates a rally built on demand from one built on mechanics. Traders forced to buy are not deciding bitcoin is worth more; they are covering a losing bet.
Meanwhile, Hyperliquid's HYPE rose over 4% to nearly $73 and leads the majors on the week at almost 27%. Ether added almost 5% to $2,350 and is up 24.5% over seven days. Dogecoin gained almost 9% to just over 8 cents and solana over 5% to just under $90, both up 17% on the week.
BNB rose 6% to $660 and is up 8% over seven days. Tron lagged, up 1.5% to just under 34 cents and barely moved on the week.
The rally dates back to Wednesday, when the U.S. Treasury doubled the size of its long-end bond buybacks from $2 billion to $4 billion per operation, easing conditions across the roughly $30 trillion Treasury market and lifting risk appetite.
Bitcoin then cleared resistance near $66,600, which put $76,000 on traders' radar as the next level.
Washington added to it. President Donald Trump urged Congress to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act at a White House event on Wednesday, flanked by executives from Coinbase, Gemini, Ripple and Chainlink Labs.
Bitcoin's market value now stands at $1.5 trillion, still some 40% below the record above $126,000 set last October.
UPDATE (Aug. 21, 07:43 UTC): Updates bitcoin price, liquidations data.
UPDATE (Aug. 21, 08:30 UTC): Updates bitcoin price.