Once again, bears misjudged the market. Bitcoin (BTC) briefly reached $80,594 on Monday, its highest level since January 31, before retracting to approximately $79,851. This move triggered $370 million in total cryptocurrency liquidations over the past 24 hours, impacting 97,235 traders, as per CoinGlass data.
Of this total, $301.93 million stemmed from short positions. Shorts were liquidated roughly four times as much as longs, indicating dominant bearish positioning prior to the move, which forced them to close positions at a loss. Bitcoin accounted for $179 million of the liquidations, while ether traders contributed $95 million.
The largest single liquidation was an $11.77 million ETH/USDT short on Binance. This squeeze is the second of its kind in two weeks, following a similar setup on April 18 that wiped out $593 million in shorts as bitcoin surpassed $77,000.
Funding rates on bitcoin perpetuals have been negative for most of April, meaning shorts have been paying longs to maintain their short positions, and each time the price increases, the same trade unwinds violently. Other major cryptocurrencies also experienced gains, with ether climbing 2.3% to $2,368, XRP gaining 2.1% to $1.42, BNB adding 1.9% to $630, and Solana rising 1.4% to $85.14. Dogecoin stood out with a 3.5% increase on the day and 14.3% on the week to $0.1119, extending its breakout. Net inflows into U.S.
spot bitcoin ETFs reached $153.9 million last week, with April seeing $1.97 billion in total, the highest monthly total since October 2025. FxPro analysts noted that bitcoin needs to consolidate above $85,000 to confirm the breakout, as the rising price and downward-sloping 200-day moving average converge with an important long-term trend line at $83,600.