Bitcoin hits $85,000 as short squeeze forces out $648 million of bearish bets

Bitcoin extended its climb above the top of its September trading range on Monday, changing hands around $84,984 in the late European morning and clearing the Sept. 4 high of $82,284. The intraday move left bitcoin roughly 5.4% higher over 24 hours. Market-data provider CoinGlass recorded $746.6 million of total liquidations across crypto derivatives in the past day, of which $647.9 million were short positions.

Liquidations were acute in the most recent hour, with $159.9 million forced out and 95% of that amount coming from shorts. CoinGlass also attributed $277.5 million of the 24-hour liquidations to bitcoin shorts and $122.8 million to ether shorts. Despite the forced closures, overall futures open interest climbed 7.59% to $156 billion, while 24-hour trading volume rose 39% to $224 billion, implying traders are replacing liquidated exposure rather than retreating from the market.

Derivatives indicators showed a bullish tilt amid the squeeze. The taker long-short volume ratio in crypto futures moved to about 53% in favor of buyers, and bitcoin’s total futures open interest surpassed 700,000 BTC for the first time in weeks. On Binance, large accounts show mixed intraday order flow but maintain a derivatives-position ratio above 2.0, indicating sizable leveraged long exposure. Perpetual funding rates on some tokens surged: CRO futures open interest hit a record 536 million tokens while annualized funding rates approached 60%, a level the source said can presage heightened volatility and the risk of a long squeeze.

The rally was broad across tokens: 95 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 constituents were higher on the day, with AI- and layer-1-related names among the leaders. Notable moves included Sui up more than 20% over 24 hours with a 28.9% rise in its futures open interest, dogecoin and avalanche posting double-digit gains and open interest builds, and other tokens like aave and ether.fi also showing sizable upticks. Implied volatility measures for bitcoin and ether ticked up slightly, while options-flow indicated growing demand for call spreads and bullish positioning on Deribit.