Once again, bears have misjudged the market. Bitcoin, with a value of $81,085.69, briefly reached $80,594 early Monday, marking its highest point since January 31, before retreating to trade at approximately $79,851 at the time of writing. This move led to $370 million in total cryptocurrency liquidations over the past 24 hours, impacting 97,235 traders, as per CoinGlass data. Of this total, a significant $301.93 million came 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 unwind their positions at a loss. Bitcoin alone accounted for $179 million of the loss, 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. The pattern is starting to appear structural, with funding rates on bitcoin perpetuals remaining negative for most of April, meaning shorts have been paying longs to stay short. Each time the price increases, 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 remains a standout performer, up 3.5% 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 across the products, the highest monthly total since October 2025. In contrast, ether ETFs experienced $82.5 million in net outflows.
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.