Over $140M in Shorts Wrecked in an Hour as BTC, ETH, XRP Suddenly Explode

After a few days of suppressed price action, the crypto market is on the move again, with bitcoin leading the pack with a surge past $80,000 for the first time in a week.

Most altcoins followed the sharp uptick, leading to more than $140 million in shorts getting wrecked in the past hours alone.

It was just 24 hours ago that the primary cryptocurrency struggled to hold the $77,000 support and dipped to a 10-day low of $76,200 amid the escalating tension in the Middle East.

However, the asset rebounded successfully in the following hours, as reported earlier today, and quickly reclaimed the $77,000 and $78,000 levels. The past hours or so have been even more impressive, as bitcoin just soared past $80,000 for the first time since last Friday, when it was rejected and driven south to $77,000 after Kevin Warsh’s hawkish speech at Jackson Hole.

Many altcoins have joined the ride, posting notable 1-hour and 24-hour gains. ETH is up to almost $2,500 as of now after a 2.6% surge in the past 60 minutes and a 4.4% pump since this time yesterday. BNB has rocketed past $720, while XRP has gained 9% on a daily scale (and 4.3% in the past hour alone).

This price volatility has harmed overleveraged traders. Data from CoinGlass shows that the hourly wrecked positions have risen to $157 million, with more than $142 million coming from shorts. On a daily scale, the total liquidations are over $400 million, and shorts are responsible for $315 million.

Nearly 110,000 traders have been wiped out in the past day, with the single-largest liquidation occurring on Binance, totaling more than $5.2 million.