Bitcoin tops $85K as $648M in crypto shorts are liquidated

Bitcoin cleared $85,000 on Sept. 21, with CoinGlass tracking $648 million in short liquidations over the preceding 24 hours. The asset hit $85,248, its highest print since Jan. 29, then eased to $84,545 as of press time, still up 5% on the day.

Total leveraged liquidations over the same window reached $750.5 million, with about 137,386 traders wiped out per CoinGlass. Bitcoin accounted for roughly $360 million of that, and Ethereum for nearly $171 million. The largest single liquidation was an $11.29 million BTC-USDT position on Binance.

Where the squeeze came from

Glassnode flagged $83,000 to $86,000 as a hotspot for accumulated shorts, a band Bitcoin covered in mere hours as European trading opened. On X, the analytics firm noted that shorts had built between $82,000 and $86,000 over months and that the prior rejection from the level was shallow, leaving those positions as the fuel once price pressed higher.

CryptoQuant data showed net taker volume on Binance jumping from about $11 million to $618 million within an hour as European trading opened, an imbalance toward market-buy orders that immediately preceded the cascade. About $262.30 million in shorts were liquidated within an hour as Bitcoin passed $84,000, of which roughly $218.55 million came from Bitcoin shorts against just $9.53 million from longs, per CoinGlass.

Bitcoin open interest sits at about $28.83 billion, close to its May record, leaving a sizeable pool of derivatives positions vulnerable to further swings.

The trend context

The latest push extended Bitcoin's advance over the past 35 days to about 29%. BTCUSD set a weekly close of $81,120 on Sunday, its highest since the week of May 4, and was setting new 33-week highs at the time of writing.

Bitcoin closed above its 50-week moving average last week for the first time since November 2025, ending a 45-week stretch below the threshold. Galaxy Digital Head of Firmwide Research Alex Thorn said prior recoveries of that measure have often provided strong confirmation that the bear-market low was already in. Bitcoin has reclaimed its 50-week exponential moving average at $77,769, previously marked as a key prerequisite for upside continuation. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju highlighted Bitcoin moving back above its 365-day moving average near $83,000, a separate long-cycle marker.

ETF flows and positioning

US spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $435 million on Friday, the largest daily tally since Sept. 3 per Farside Investors data, with Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) accounting for $310 million of the total. The Friday print came after $433 million in net inflows on Sept. 18, leaving the week with a modest $6.2 million net figure after earlier withdrawals.

Per Glassnode, Bitcoin spot ETF investors' cost basis sits at $85,638, a level BTC is now approaching. Bitcoin corporate treasuries hold an aggregate cost basis of around $80,500.

Risk signals

Rekt Capital warned of a bearish divergence on the daily RSI, where lower highs on the indicator were arriving with higher highs on price, increasing the risk of a sudden reversal. The 30-year US yield traded at 5.301% on Monday, cooled from 5.425% on Sept. 11, with CME FedWatch showing 53% odds of another 0.25% Fed hike at the October meeting and a near 40% chance of a third 0.25% hike before year-end.

Santiment noted that new and active Bitcoin addresses remained near their median between July 24 and Sept. 20 even as the price broke higher, with social activity at 1.23 times its baseline and transactions worth more than $100,000 at 1.18 times normal levels, neither reaching a two-month high. Bitcoin remains about 32.5% below its October 2025 record high near $126,000, with its year-to-date loss narrowed to less than 3%.

Brent crude fell around 1.5% on Monday as oil supply conditions improved and Iran diplomacy resumed. WTI traded below $94 on Monday after spiking above $100 per barrel the prior week.