Bitcoin extended its rally on Friday, hammering traders who had positioned for a decline and wiping out more than $1 billion in bearish bets.
CoinGecko data showed the largest cryptocurrency changing hands at about $77,137, up 7.9% over the past 24 hours, after touching an intraday high of $79,320. On a seven-day basis, Bitcoin was up 23.2%, though it remained roughly 31.8% below where it traded a year ago.
Short sellers were hit across the market
The move squeezed leveraged short sellers across crypto. CoinGlass data showed about $1.5 billion in total liquidations over the past 24 hours across 178,777 traders, with short positions accounting for roughly $1.21 billion of that amount.
On the one-hour heatmap, Bitcoin alone drove about $17.25 million in liquidations. The largest single liquidation order recorded over the past day was a $23.59 million BTC position on Hyperliquid.
The report described the setup as a classic short squeeze: rising prices forced bearish traders to buy back positions, and that buying added more upward pressure.
A rebound after a bruising stretch
The rally followed a rough period for the market. Earlier this week, Bitcoin surged toward a recent high in a run that wiped out about $3 billion in short positions. The report also said analysts were split on whether the momentum could continue.
Washington headlines arrived at the same time
The advance also coincided with a series of favorable headlines from Washington. According to the report, President Donald Trump backed the crypto market-structure Clarity Act at a White House gathering this week and said regulators were working to bring offshore perpetual-futures exchange Hyperliquid onshore. Those remarks helped lift market sentiment.
Bitcoin was not alone in the move. Ethereum, Solana, and other major tokens also climbed. Bitcoin’s market capitalization stood near $1.55 trillion, while 24-hour trading volume topped $69 billion.