Why Bitcoin’s $80,000 rally just flipped from short squeeze to long squeeze

Bitcoin's brief pullback below $78,000 triggered more than $300 million in crypto liquidations as traders took profits after a sharp $80,000 rally driven by Treasury developments, ETF inflows, and a squeeze on bearish positions.

Data from CryptoSlate shows that the largest cryptocurrency fell as low as $77,870 during the last 24 hours before recovering above $79,000 as of press time. The retreat spread across major cryptocurrencies, with XRP falling 4% to $1.43 and Solana sliding 3% to $97 after trading above $101.

Ethereum dropped to about $2,467, while Zcash declined 7% to $789. Cardano and Dogecoin each fell roughly 5%, with ADA trading around $0.20.

CoinGlass data showed that this price action led to about 80,000 liquidations over 24 hours, with losses totaling $324.4 million. Long positions accounted for roughly $270 million of the wipeout, marking a sharp reversal from last week's rally when bearish traders absorbed most of the forced selling.

The largest single liquidation was an $11.91 million Bitcoin position on Binance. Bitcoin longs lost about $109 million, while Ethereum longs accounted for roughly $70 million. XRP and Zcash long liquidations reached about $16 million and $11 million, respectively.