Bitcoin’s climb above $118,000 sparked one of the largest short squeezes in the crypto derivatives market this year, wiping out a massive number of bearish positions in just one day. According to data cited from Coinglass, total forced liquidations across the market reached about $1.24 billion in the 24-hour period ending July 11, with short positions accounting for more than $1.11 billion of that figure.
The scale of the move highlights how aggressively traders had positioned against the rally. While short sellers absorbed the overwhelming majority of losses, liquidations on the long side were comparatively limited, coming in at nearly $120 million. The imbalance suggests that the market’s upside momentum caught a large group of traders off guard and accelerated the upward move through forced buying and position closures.
Bitcoin Leads a Broad Market Liquidation Event
The rally pushed Bitcoin to a fresh all-time high above $118K, and that move became the main catalyst for liquidation activity across the sector. Coinglass data showed that the single-day short wipeout surpassed the previous high recorded on May 10, making it the biggest event of its kind so far this year.
In total, about 261,866 traders were liquidated over the 24-hour period. The largest individual liquidation was a BTC/USDT position on HTX valued at approximately $88.55 million. Such a large single-position wipeout underlines how leveraged some traders had become heading into the breakout.
Bitcoin itself recorded the heaviest damage among major assets. With the price up 4.82% over the period, BTC short liquidations reached $547.59 million, compared with just $12.13 million in long liquidations. That disparity reflects how decisively the market moved against short-biased positioning.
Major Exchanges Absorb the Bulk of Forced Closures
The liquidation wave was concentrated on the largest derivatives platforms. Bybit accounted for the biggest share, with around $291 million in contracts liquidated. More than 98% of that amount came from short positions, showing how heavily its users were leaning against the rally.
HTX followed with about $133 million in total liquidations. Gate ranked next at roughly $71.8 million, while OKX and Binance posted approximately $54.61 million and $54.56 million, respectively. The data suggests that the squeeze was not isolated to one venue but spread broadly across the major exchanges where leveraged crypto trading is concentrated.
The fact that leading platforms all registered substantial liquidation volumes indicates a market-wide repricing rather than a localized event. When multiple venues show a similar pattern of forced closures, it often points to a coordinated response to a major directional move in the underlying asset.
Ethereum, Solana, XRP and DOGE Also See Heavy Short Losses
Although Bitcoin dominated the headlines, other large-cap cryptocurrencies also participated in the rally and posted notable short liquidations. Ethereum rose 7.04% and saw about $149.09 million in short positions wiped out over 24 hours. Long liquidations in ETH were far smaller at around $22.79 million.
Solana and XRP both advanced by more than 4%, and their liquidation patterns showed the same skew toward short losses. For Solana, short liquidations reached $14.34 million, while long liquidations totaled about $3 million. XRP recorded $10.98 million in short liquidations versus only $1.15 million on the long side.
DOGE also reflected the broader risk-on move. With the token up 5.91%, short liquidations came to roughly $4.73 million, compared with $1.58 million for long positions. Taken together, the top five cryptocurrencies generated more than $720 million in short liquidations within 24 hours, while long liquidations for the same group were only around $40 million.
What the Data Suggests About Market Sentiment
The sharp imbalance between short and long liquidations points to a decisive bullish swing in market sentiment. When short positions are closed on such a large scale, the process can intensify momentum because traders are forced to buy back exposure as prices continue moving higher. That dynamic often amplifies volatility and can create a feedback loop, especially when leverage is elevated.
In this case, Bitcoin’s breakout above $118,000 appears to have triggered exactly that kind of market reaction. Traders betting on a reversal or pullback were instead caught in an accelerating move upward, and their forced exits contributed to the severity of the liquidation cascade.
For now, the latest figures underscore a clear message from the derivatives market: bullish momentum returned with enough force to erase more than $1 billion in short positions in a single day. Whether that momentum continues will depend on future price action, but the current data leaves little doubt that bears were caught badly offside during Bitcoin’s latest rally.