Bitcoin surges 7.9% to $77,000 as $1.2B short squeeze liquidates bearish bets
In brief
- Bitcoin rose 7.9% to $77,137 over 24 hours, reaching intraday high of $79,320.
- Short squeeze liquidated $1.21 billion in bearish positions as rising prices forced traders to cover.
- Trump backed crypto Clarity Act and signaled regulators working to bring Hyperliquid onshore.
The squeeze unfolds
Bitcoin touched an intraday high of $79,320 as the rally accelerated. About $1.5 billion in total crypto liquidations occurred over the past 24 hours across 178,777 traders, with Bitcoin driving about $17.25 million in liquidations on the one-hour heatmap. The single largest liquidation order in the last day was a $23.59 million BTC position wiped out on Hyperliquid.
The dynamic is a textbook short squeeze. Rising prices force bearish traders to buy back their positions, adding fuel that pushes prices even higher. Earlier in the week, Bitcoin surged toward a recent high in a run that liquidated some $3 billion in shorts.
Washington tailwinds
President Donald Trump backed the crypto market-structure Clarity Act at a White House gathering this week and signaled regulators were working to bring offshore perpetual-futures exchange Hyperliquid onshore. The regulatory momentum helped lift sentiment across digital assets.
Bitcoin wasn't alone in the advance, with Ethereum, Solana and other major tokens climbing alongside it. Bitcoin's market capitalization stood near $1.55 trillion, while 24-hour trading volume topped $69 billion.
