Bitcoin Surge Toward $72K Triggers Over $3 Billion in Short Position Liquidations
As Bitcoin climbed toward $72,000 during its second consecutive day of gains, cryptocurrency short position liquidations surpassed the $3.1 billion threshold.
The cryptocurrency market is witnessing record-breaking liquidations of short positions, with Bitcoin (BTC) and alternative digital assets driving totals beyond $3 billion across a two-day period.
Key points:
- Data from CoinGlass indicates that short position liquidations in the crypto market have exceeded $3.1 billion since Thursday.
- Bitcoin's upward momentum persists as it responds to a liquidity intervention by the United States Treasury, with prices nearing the $72,000 threshold.
- Investors holding Bitcoin for shorter durations have transferred 43,300 BTC to exchanges, capitalizing on profits from previously loss-making positions.
Cryptocurrency short position wipeout reaches $3.1 billion over two days
Information from CoinGlass reveals that cryptocurrency short liquidations have accumulated to $3.1 billion during the period spanning Aug. 19-20. The liquidation total recorded on Thursday represents the largest single-day elimination of short positions in documented history.
The BTC/USD trading pair spearheaded the upward movement on Wednesday, responding to a liquidity injection by the US Treasury with a substantial price increase that reached the highest price points observed since early June. As of this writing, the bullish trend persists, with the trading pair touching local peaks of $71,992 on the Bitstamp exchange, according to information from TradingView.
According to CoinGlass data, Bitcoin represents slightly more than half of the aggregate short liquidations, totaling $1.65 billion.
These figures do not constitute the most significant crypto liquidation event when long positions are factored into the equation. The recent short squeeze pales in comparison to the $20 billion long position liquidation wave that occurred following Bitcoin's retreat from its latest all-time peak of $126,200 in October 2025.
When measured in US dollar value, information from CoinMarketCap ranks Thursday's combined liquidations in the seventh position historically, computing the day's aggregate long and short liquidations at $3.25 billion.
Bitcoin traders capitalize on profits as cost basis levels return
Bitcoin market participants, in the meantime, seized the opportunity to realize gains on holdings that had previously been underwater with unrealized losses.
Investors classified as short-term holders — cryptocurrency wallets maintaining a UTXO for fewer than 155 days — transferred an unprecedented 43,300 BTC at a profit to cryptocurrency exchanges in what represents their most substantial profit-taking action of 2026, based on data from onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant.
As of Thursday, the spent output profit ratio (SOPR) indicator for the short-term holder (STH) segment registered 1.01, marking its most elevated reading since April. This measurement indicates that the bulk of coins contained in UTXOs originating from STH wallets were transferred at a price point exceeding that of their prior transaction.
In earlier reports, Cointelegraph documented that the STH cohort's collective cost basis, which is also referred to as the STH realized price, was positioned at $68,700. During that analysis, market observers cautioned that any upward price movement could potentially be constrained by the inclination of investors within this group to liquidate positions that had been showing unrealized losses.