Over the last 24 hours, the cryptocurrency derivatives market experienced significant liquidations totaling $333.56 million. Short positions were particularly affected, accounting for $212.59 million of the liquidations, while long positions saw $120.97 million liquidated. This 1.76 short-to-long ratio was observed following Bitcoin’s 2% price increase, which pushed it to $122,000 after a period of struggling to overcome substantial resistance around $118,000.
The skew in liquidations suggests that traders were increasingly betting against Bitcoin as it showed weakness. However, a sustained buying pressure unexpectedly drove the price above $120,000, resulting in substantial losses for those short positions.
A breakdown by cryptocurrency reveals that Bitcoin and Ethereum accounted for the majority of liquidations, with $115 million and $93.22 million respectively, representing roughly 62% of the total. This aligns with the concentration of leverage on these two leading digital assets, while smaller altcoins contributed smaller amounts to the overall figure.
Major exchanges such as Binance and Bybit accounted for a substantial portion of the liquidations, with $120.58 million and $103.63 million respectively, adding up to about 67% of the total. OKX followed with $53.82 million, Gate with $33.11 million, and HTX with $27.74 million. Across these platforms, short liquidations dominated: Binance showed 52.94% of value liquidated on the short side, Bybit 61.06%, OKX 53.28%, Gate 70.26%, and HTX 69.55%. Platforms that cater to retail traders showed an even more pronounced skew towards short liquidations, a typical characteristic of gradual price increases that target overleveraged positions.
The single largest liquidation was a $9.14 million BTC-USDT-SWAP order executed on OKX. While a liquidation of this size may not independently move the market given current liquidity levels, it demonstrates the rapid impact of price surges on areas of clustered short positions and liquidation points.
If Bitcoin can maintain its position above $121,000, the pressure from short liquidations is likely to subside, unless the price continues to climb to new highs. However, a quick reversal in price could shift the risk towards overly optimistic long positions. As of today, the data clearly indicates that short sellers faced the brunt of the market’s volatility.