Bitcoin hits $80,000, triggering $415M in liquidations

A sharp move through a key psychological level forced leveraged short sellers out of their positions, with $330 million in shorts wiped out Bitcoin pushed through $80,000, and the derivatives market paid for it. The rally triggered more than $415 million in crypto liquidations. Short sellers absorbed most of the damage, with $330 million of that total coming from short positions. Traders who bet against the climb found out the hard way that the market had other plans. How the squeeze unfolded Bitcoin climbed to approximately $80,270 at its peak. That was enough to set off a classic short squeeze across leveraged trading venues. Short liquidations topped $329 million in a single hour during the move. Bitcoin shorts specifically accounted for about $86 million of that figure. The rest came from bets against other crypto assets. When Bitcoin rips higher, the rest of the market tends to come along, and bearish traders on altcoins got caught in the updraft too. Across the full 24-hour window, total crypto liquidations climbed past $510 million. More than 119,000 traders had positions forcibly closed during that stretch. What a liquidation actually is Think of leverage like borrowing mon...