Bitcoin climbed to $69,500 in early trading, rebounding sharply from $66,634 and posting a 2.55% gain over 24 hours. Ether moved higher as well, reaching $2,134 with a daily increase of 2.76%. The move triggered a broad liquidation wave across crypto derivatives markets, with short sellers taking the brunt of the damage.
24-hour liquidations jump to $255.31 million
According to CoinGlass, total crypto liquidations reached $255.31 million over the past 24 hours, up 301.04% from the previous day. Short liquidations accounted for $182.95 million, or 71.7% of the total, while long liquidations came in at $72.36 million. The data points to a move driven largely by forced short covering rather than long-side capitulation.
Bitcoin alone saw $102.15 million in short liquidations, compared with just $8.79 million on the long side. The largest single liquidation in the market was an ETHUSDT position on Binance worth $10.17 million. In total, 80,144 traders were liquidated. Over the most recent four-hour window, liquidations reached $146.1 million, with shorts making up 94.36%, showing how concentrated the squeeze was during the sharp upward leg.
Trump deadline and strong payrolls support risk assets
The source tied the rebound in part to a 48-hour ultimatum issued by Trump to Iran on April 5, calling for peace talks or the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. With the US-Iran conflict and the blockade of the strait stretching beyond five weeks, traders appeared to price in the possibility of easing geopolitical pressure, lifting risk assets including Bitcoin.
US labor data released the same day also came in stronger than expected. March nonfarm payrolls increased by 178,000, well above the market estimate of 59,000. The source also noted that Charles Schwab plans to open spot trading for BTC and ETH in mid-April, backed by a platform serving 37 million clients and overseeing $12 trillion in assets. Block, the company associated with Jack Dorsey, launched btc.day on April 6 and said it plans to distribute $1 million worth of BTC. Together, those developments added to short-term bullish sentiment.
Altcoin performance stays mixed as fear index remains low
Outside BTC and ETH, price action was less uniform. SOL traded at $80.56, up 1.71% over 24 hours. XRP fell 1.70% to $1.32, making it one of the few major tokens in the red, while DOGE changed hands at $0.092 with limited momentum. The market still showed a Bitcoin-led structure rather than a broad-based altcoin rally.
The Alternative.me Fear and Greed Index stood at 13, still in the “extreme fear” zone. On the macro side, Brent crude was quoted at $109 per barrel, and the S&P 500 was down 4% year to date. The source said the US strategic petroleum reserve could be depleted in about two weeks, leaving traders focused on what happens when the 48-hour deadline expires and how markets respond ahead of Schwab’s spot crypto launch.