Crypto Shorts Get Rekt: Liquidations Near $800M as Bitcoin Price Spikes

The price of Bitcoin is soaring Wednesday, and traders betting against the leading cryptocurrency and other top assets are feeling the pain—to the tune of nearly $700 million worth of liquidated short positions over the last 24 hours. Bitcoin was recently trading for $96,867, and hit its highest price since November 14, according to data from CoinGecko. The top asset is up nearly 5% over the last day and just over 5% on the week, though it remains down about 23% from its all-time high above $126,000 set in early October. Other major cryptocurrencies are similarly in the green on Wednesday, with Ethereum rising almost 7% to $3,354, XRP climbing nearly 5% to $2.17, and Solana ticking up almost 4% to about $147. 

Bears have been rewarded at times in recent months with Bitcoin and other assets losing ground, but short holders have been mostly punished over the last day, with CoinGlass showing about $690 million worth of shorts liquidated over that span. That’s from a total of $789 million worth of liquidations. Bitcoin leads the way for liquidated positions with $382 million worth, followed by Ethereum at $231 million and Solana at $33 million. Crypto prices have been on the rise over the last day as traction builds around the Clarity Act, the U.S. crypto market structure bill, which is currently being drafted and revised ahead of planned markup from the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. Rebounding sentiment also comes following Tuesday’s CPI report, which showed steadying inflation in the United States. On Tuesday, Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. had their best single day for investments since October, with $754 million flowing into the products. Gold and silver have also jumped to new highs this week.

Users on Myriad—a prediction market platform operated by Decrypt’s parent company, Dastan—have grown increasingly bullish on Bitcoin, giving the asset a nearly 89% chance of rising to $100,000 sooner than it can fall to $69,000. Those odds have increased by nearly 13% over the last 24 hours alone.