In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a surge in price, surpassing the $70,400 mark and resulting in the liquidation of over $102 million worth of leveraged short positions. This has raised questions about whether BTC’s breakout from its weekly price range has been confirmed.
After reaching a weekly high of $72,668 on April 8, the price of Bitcoin retraced slightly to trade above $70,413, experiencing a 0.55% decrease in the 24-hour period leading up to 9:45 am UTC, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Following the surge in BTC’s price, the cryptocurrency market witnessed the liquidation of over $102 million worth of leveraged short positions in the past 24 hours. This resulted in a total of $186.8 million worth of liquidations, as reported by Coinglass data.
Out of the total liquidations, BTC liquidations accounted for $61.6 million, with $33.9 million coming from short positions and $27.7 million from leveraged longs. The largest single liquidation order, amounting to $4.49 million worth of Bitcoin, occurred on Binance, the world’s largest exchange.
It is worth noting that the $33 million worth of short Bitcoin liquidations is lower than the $38 million liquidations that occurred on April 2. Additionally, BTC experienced a sudden 5% drawdown on April 2, resulting in the liquidation of $165 million worth of leverage in less than two hours.
If BTC’s price rallies back to $73,000, there is the potential for over $507 million worth of cumulative short leverage to be liquidated on Binance. Furthermore, at $73,500, cumulative short liquidations on Binance could reach $666 million.
Traders should pay attention to the $73,000 level, which currently acts as significant resistance and a potential short-liquidation zone for the BTC price.
Following the recent liquidations, the Bitcoin futures funding rate underwent a healthy reset, dropping to 0.0163% on April 9, nearly three times lower than the previous day. However, this is still considerably lower than the three-week high of 0.0714% observed on April 1.
The successful retesting of the old all-time high of $69,000 by Bitcoin price has confirmed the breakout from its weekly range, signaling potential bullish momentum for the future, according to popular crypto analyst Rekt Capital.
The recent price rally of Bitcoin can be mainly attributed to inflows from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and the anticipation surrounding the upcoming Bitcoin halving, according to Matteo Greco, a research analyst at digital asset firm Fineqia. Greco expects a sustained Bitcoin rally following the halving, which could last well into the second quarter of 2025.