Over $202M in Short Bitcoin, Ethereum Positions Liquidated Amid Bullish Move

By Sujith Somraaj

Following a week of steady losses, crypto prices have turned a bullish corner in the last day. And traders shorting Bitcoin and Ethereum have been caught out.

This positive price movement puts the total market capitalization just above $1.05 trillion, a 7.15% rise over the past 24 hours, suggests CoinMarketCap. 

Bitcoin (BTC), the leading cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $438 billion, is up 7.3% over the past 24 hours and trades at around $22,884. 

Despite significant daily gains, BTC is still down 66.66% from its all-time high of $68,789.63 recorded in November 2021, reports CoinMarketCap.

Ethereum (ETH) has also posted significant gains of nearly 11% over the past 24 hours. ETH is the second-largest cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization of $197 billion.

The leading smart contracts blockchain is trading at around $1,614 apiece, down 66.69% from its recorded all-time highs in November 2021, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Nearly 88,140 traders were liquidated over the past 24 hours, reports Coinglass. 

Of those traders, a hefty majority (72%) were short various cryptocurrencies, resulting in losses of $273.87 million.

Bitcoin liquidations chart. Source: Coinglass.

Ethereum led liquidations, with nearly $165.52 million liquidated of which $120.34 million were short positions. Bitcoin traders were also liquidated to the tune of $116.60 million ($82.47 million in shorts), followed by $31.28 million ($22.10 million in shorts) in Ethereum Classic wiped out.

Apart from Bitcoin and Ethereum, DeFitokens, including Lido (37%), Synthetix (24%), and Uniswap (23%), have also posted significant gains.

Ethereum Classic (28%), Bitcoin Cash (23%), and several other proof-of-work (PoW) blockchains also showed positive price movement.

What’s fueling the Bitcoin rally?

Today’s bullish price action comes on the heels of the U.S. Federal Reserve delivering the expected 75-basis point hike and strong growth in trading volumes.

Overall trading volumes of cryptocurrencies also jumped 30% from $72.78 billion yesterday to $93.12 billion today, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Not just cryptocurrencies, stock markets also responded positively following the latest rate hike. 

Yesterday, at the end of trading hours, U.S. stock indices, including Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) closed 1.37% higher, and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) gained 4.06%.

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