Another macro surprise jolted the crypto market as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released dismal June nonfarm payroll data on the evening of July 2 (Beijing time). The sharply cooling labor market dramatically lowered Wall Street's expectations for further Federal Reserve rate hikes, funneling capital toward risk assets like cryptocurrencies.
BTC and ETH Surge on Rate-Cut Hopes
Bitcoin (BTC) rocketed past the $62,000 mark in a short but violent rally, while Ethereum (ETH) reclaimed $1,700 with equal force. The sudden upswing caught leveraged short sellers off guard, triggering a cascade of forced liquidations across derivatives exchanges.
CoinGlass Data: Shorts Lost $139M in One Hour
According to on-chain analytics platform CoinGlass, the short squeeze was brutal. In the single most intense hour, total liquidations hit $167 million, with shorts accounting for $139 million. Over the past 24 hours, the platform recorded $634.92 million in total liquidations, affecting 132,550 traders. The forced closures further fueled the upside momentum.
Hyperliquid Sees Largest Single Liquidation at $18.2M
The largest individual liquidation order—worth $18.2 million—was executed on the decentralized perpetual exchange Hyperliquid in its ETH-USD pair. This highlights both the extreme volatility in Ethereum during the rebound and the accelerating shift of whale activity and high-leverage trading toward decentralized derivatives protocols (Perp DEXs).
Analysts caution that while the NFP miss provided a short-term catalyst, traders should watch for Fed officials' comments next week and potential profit-taking after the squeeze. Strict risk management—controlling leverage and margin levels—remains the only way to avoid being the next liquidation stat.