Crypto Liquidations Hit $974.80M as Short Traders Lose on Bitcoin Rally

The latest Coinglass data reveals $974.80 million in crypto positions were liquidated over a day as the broader market moved higher. Traders who had bet against the market, via short positions, incurred the majority of the losses.

Bitcoin (BTC) climbed 4.64% in a 24-hour span to $80,480, data from BeInCrypto Markets shows. The digital asset is now trading marginally above the $80,000 mark, which has proven a difficult floor to defend since the end of October.

Short Sellers Bear the Weight of Market Liquidations

These short-squeeze liquidations arose at the same time as a drop in US crude oil prices, a move that followed Democratic control of Congress, BeInCrypto reported.

Of the total Coinglass figure for the 24-hour window, short positions accounted for $575.48 million, equal to 59%. Long positions saw $399.32 million in liquidations during the same timeframe.

Bitcoin topped the list, contributing $396.04 million to the liquidation total. Here, short sellers made up 78.2% of the activity, a much larger proportion than the 59% market-wide share.

Ethereum (ETH) recorded a steeper climb, rising 6.84% in the same 24 hours to trade at $2,418. The $241.79 million liquidated from ETH positions saw a smaller tilt toward shorts, which represented 56.5% of the total.

A total of 128,911 traders were liquidated during the period, according to Coinglass. The largest single order to unwind was a $38 million ETH-USDT long position on the HTX exchange.

Binance processed the largest slice of the liquidations, handling 39% of the total. This activity comes shortly after the exchange resumed withdrawals in the wake of a record $6.3 billion hack.

Bitcoin's Latest Attempt to Defend $80,000

The recent price increase has returned Bitcoin to a zone that has repeatedly posed a challenge since late October.

On October 24, Bitcoin broke below $80,000 as over $200 million in leveraged crypto positions were unwound in just 60 minutes. Long traders took the bulk of those losses. By October 28, the asset was hovering at roughly $80,800 before fears around the Binance hack pushed it under $78,000 the very next day.

Earlier this week on Wednesday, BTC touched a low of $75,700. Following the placement of optimistic options trades, the price climbed back above $78,300.

Since shorts accounted for 78.2% of Bitcoin's liquidations, the compelled purchasing that propelled this rally could be largely used up. Whether the $80,000 level can be sustained now hinges on fresh demand in the spot market.

A retreat back below this level would mirror the events of late October, when long positions shouldered the larger portion of the liquidation wave. According to BeInCrypto Markets data, Bitcoin trades 36.2% below its all-time high of $126,080 reached on October 6, 2025. Closing this gap will require consistent spot market demand, something that cannot be provided by forced cover of short positions alone.