Crypto Shorts Lose $1.23 Billion in 1 Hour: 3 Bitcoin Whales Wiped Out

Crypto bears just had one of their worst hours of 2026. Short positions worth $1.23 billion were liquidated in 60 minutes as Bitcoin (BTC) climbed 2.5% to near $68,424.

Three whale wallets on Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives exchange, absorbed $194 million of the damage. The forced buying added fuel to a rally that began in the bond market.

Inside the $1.23 Billion Crypto Short Liquidations

Total liquidations reached $1.31 billion in the hour, and shorts made up nearly all of it, per data from CoinGlass.

Bitcoin positions accounted for roughly $770 million of the wipeout, with Ethereum (ETH) adding another $430 million. ETH itself gained 3.9% and traded back above $2,000, near $2,084.

The 24-hour toll ran to $1.57 billion across 114,038 traders, with shorts making up $1.41 billion. The largest single order, an ETH position on Bitget, was worth $32.18 million.

The biggest casualty on Hyperliquid was wallet 0x8c96, which lost its entire 1,800 BTC short worth about $117 million, per Hypurrscan records.

Two more followed it out. Wallet 0x431f was wiped out with 677 BTC liquidated, roughly $44 million, per its history. A third account, 0x004e, lost 500 BTC worth about $33 million, per its transactions.