Once again, bears have misjudged the market. Bitcoin (BTC) briefly reached $80,594 on Monday, its highest level since January 31, before retreating to around $79,851. This move triggered a total of $370 million in crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours, affecting 97,235 traders, according to data from CoinGlass. Of this total, $301.93 million was attributed to short positions.

Shorts were liquidated approximately four times more than longs, indicating that bearish sentiment dominated the market prior to the surge, forcing them to close positions at a loss. Bitcoin accounted for $179 million of the losses, while ether traders contributed $95 million. The largest single liquidation was an $11.77 million ETH/USDT short on Binance.

This is the second such incident in two weeks, following a similar setup on April 18 that wiped out $593 million in shorts as bitcoin surpassed $77,000. The pattern is becoming increasingly structural, with funding rates on bitcoin perpetuals remaining negative for most of April, meaning shorts have been paying longs to maintain their positions. Each time the price rises, the same trade unwinds violently.

Other major cryptocurrencies also saw 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% gain on the day and 14.3% on the week to $0.1119, extending its breakout from last week alongside record-high open interest in DOGE futures. Net inflows into U.S.

spot bitcoin ETFs reached $153.9 million last week, with April seeing a total of $1.97 billion, the highest monthly total since October 2025. In contrast, ether ETFs experienced $82.5 million in net outflows, ending a three-week streak of inflows. Analysts at FxPro noted that bitcoin needs to consolidate above $85,000 to confirm the breakout. The rising price and downward-sloping 200-day moving average are converging with an important long-term trend line at $83,600.

Consolidation above this level could encourage traders further, but consolidation above $85,000 is preferred.