Bitcoin (BTC) surpassing $ 30,000 and hitting highs of nearly $ 31,000 has been causing a lot of pain for traders betting on a bearish pullback.
Cryptocurrency market overview. Source: Coin360
Data from Cointelegraph Markets, Cryptometer and TradingView confirmed that BTC / USD peaked at $ 30,960 on Jan. 2 and liquidated short positions of $ 100 million.
BTC shorters are feeling the burn … again
Under very volatile conditions, Bitcoin tried several times on New Year’s Day and overnight to crack $ 30,000 before finally reaching psychologically significant levels on Saturday.
BTC / USD 1 minute candlestick chart. Source: TradingView
The move was accompanied by a bullish charge that soon boosted the largest cryptocurrency even further, with press time trying to crack $ 31,000.
While many were partying, some were far worse off than just minutes before.
Briefly liquidated at XBTUSD: Buy 10,000,000 @ 30864 ~ I am shocked, shocked to see gambling is going on here!
– REKT (@BXRekt) January 2, 2021
“I’m shocked, shocked to see they’re playing here!” A meaningful tweet from a bot tracking liquidated deals with the derivatives giant BitMEX.
Numbers suggest that shorters on BitMEX alone lost $ 10 million, a grim reminder of the dangers associated with second guessing Bitcoin at crucial levels.
Dogecoin leads to sudden altcoin gains
Elsewhere, the altcoin markets showed their own changes. Dogecoin (DOGE), a curious amover, gained 42% that day while Leader Ether (ETH) surged back above $ 750.
Cointelegraph Markets analyst Michaël van de Poppe, who believes this month will usher in the start of a broader “old season”, was characteristically bullish.
“The higher this impulse wave is for #Bitcoin, the higher the next one will be. 2021 will be a fire,” he tweeted as a $ 30,000 hit.
Others in the top ten cryptocurrencies showed less volatile behavior, while nothing was able to boost XRP, which was still shaken by the legal troubles of major investor Ripple Labs.
