Bitcoin's rapid price rally has caught traders off guard, triggering large liquidations of bearish short positions. The leading cryptocurrency by market value has risen over 3% to $102,500 in the past 24 hours, with prices topping $104,000 at one point, the highest since Jan. 31. The bullish move came as President Donald Trump announced a comprehensive trade deal with the U.K. and the cumulative inflows into the spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) hit a record high above $40 billion. The broader market rallied as well, with the total market cap of all coins excluding BTC surging by 10% to $1.14 trillion, the highest since March 6, according to data source TradingView. That has led to substantial liquidations of bearish short positions, or leveraged plays aimed at profiting from price losses. A position is liquidated or forced closed when the trader's account balance falls below the required margin level, often due to adverse price movements. This leads the exchange to close the position to prevent further losses automatically. Nearly $400 million in BTC short positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours—marking the highest single-day total since at least November, according to Coinglass. Meanwhile, $22 million in long positions were also wiped out. This significant imbalance indicates that leverage was heavily tilted towards the bearish side, and the rapid liquidation of shorts suggests there could be more upside potential for the market ahead.
