While Bitcoin Tapped New Price Highs, 78,000 Short Positions Worth Over $800 Million Got Liquidated

While Bitcoin hit a new all-time high in 2021, traders are wary of selling the crypto asset. Bitfinex data shows that the number of short contracts was extremely low compared to the total number of shorts in mid-March 2020. On Saturday, January 2, 2021, when the price of Bitcoin exceeded $ 33,000, it was over $ 100 million positions were liquidated in minutes.

On Saturday, during the afternoon (EST) trading sessions, Bitcoin (BTC) hit $ 33,333 per unit. The price is a lifelong high in terms of fiat value over the crypto asset’s 12 year history. Bitcoin’s value has also risen sharply since March 12, 2020, also known as “Black Thursday”. Since that day, the price of BTC has risen over 777%, outperforming almost all assets under the sun apart from a few other crypto assets.

Liquidated Short at XBTUSD: Buy 10,000,000 @ 30864 🏅🏆💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯 💯💯💯 💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯 ~ I am shocked, shocked, to find that Here is the game!

– REKT (@BXRekt) January 2, 2021

With the value of Bitcoin increasing immensely, traders have not been ready to sell the crypto asset since mid-March. For example, the number of short contracts on the Bitfinex trading exchange has fallen by 77% since mid-March 2020. This action can be seen on a variety of other cryptocurrency exchanges including Bitmex, Bybit, and other platforms that offer margin and leverage trades. Short-term contracts have dropped significantly across the board.

#bitcoin Shorter like
OH NO OH NO OH NO NO NO NO NO NO

– CryptoKid (@mancryptodude) January 2, 2021

Despite the lower activity of short contracts on Bitfinex, the number of long contracts has not increased significantly either. In fact, since April 2020, the number of long-term contracts hosted on the platform has also decreased. The shorts and longs remain relatively low, suggesting that traders are unsure of how to place their bets in accordance with future BTC prices.

In the meantime, those traders willing to sell Bitcoin (BTC) during this formidable bull run have lost their shirts many times on the way up. An example is when BTC passed the all-time high of $ 20,000 two weeks ago and around 74,000 short positions were liquidated that day. At the time, Bybit derivatives exchange liquidation data said it was a whopping $ 1 billion in liquidations and roughly 98% of the deals were short.

Today’s surge above the $ 33,000 price zone was no different as 78,107 traders were liquidated on Saturday, according to Bybit data. The largest single liquidation order was placed this morning at Bitmex-BTC (EST) valued at around $ 10 million. Over $ 800 million contracts have been liquidated in the last 24 hours of crypto trading.

The popular Twitter account called “Rekt” had liquidations valued at $ 100 million at $ 30,864 apiece. “Short liquidated at XBTUSD: Buy 10,000,000 @ 30,864,” Rekt tweeted. “I am shocked, shocked to see that there is gambling going on here,” he added.

What do you think of the lower activity of Bitcoin shorteners and the liquidations after Bitcoin’s all-time highs? Let us know what you think on this matter in the comments section below.

Tags in this story

USD 500 million, USD 100 million, Bitcoin, Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Long, Bitcoin Shorting, Bitfinex data, BitMex, BTC Long, BTC shorts, Bybit, Bybit data, crypto assets, liquidation, liquidations, Long, REKT, Shorts, Liquidated Traders

Photo credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Bybit Data, Twitter,

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