Bitcoin short sellers are counting their losses as Bitcoin (BTC) surged by nearly 11% to reach a new yearly high of $57,000. Data from crypto data platform CoinGlass shows that over $161 million in BTC shorts were liquidated in the past 24 hours. Short traders looking to gain exposure to Ether (ETH) also suffered losses, with liquidations reaching almost $44 million. In total, more than $270 million in short positions were liquidated as Bitcoin briefly touched $57,000.
The broader market has been driven by a significant increase in the price of Bitcoin, which rose 10.8% in less than 24 hours from $51,471 to $57,035, according to TradingView data. While Bitcoin has since cooled off and is currently trading at $56,000, it has still seen a 32% increase in the last month.
Swyftx lead analyst Pav Hundal described the crypto market as being “on fire right now” and highlighted the substantial volumes of institutional capital flowing into the recently approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. On Feb. 26, net inflows into the 10 Bitcoin ETFs exceeded $515 million, one of the highest days of inflows since the ETFs were approved on Jan. 11, according to Farside data.
Hundal emphasized the impact of ETFs on the Bitcoin network, stating that they are consuming nearly a quarter of the Bitcoin currently being produced. Hundal’s optimism about the future price of Bitcoin was shared by other market commentators on social media. Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, simply stated, “We’re so back!” while BTC bull Dan Held proclaimed that today’s price action marked the beginning of the Bitcoin bull run.