Bitcoin’s latest liquidation sweep erased $652.84 million across crypto on April 23, wiping out 172,948 traders. Bitcoin alone contributed $321.70 million, or roughly 50% of the total.
Exchange dashboards show shorts carried almost the entire weight: on Bybit, HTX, Gate.io, and CoinEx, more than 95% of BTC positions liquidated were shorts, and across the market, the ratio sat near 94.8%. Bybit led the tally with $163.92 million in BTC losses, followed by HTX at $50.87 million and Gate.io at $44 million, while Binance, OKX, and smaller venues filled out the rest.
The wipe-out unfolded after a sharp price rebound. Spot data place sBitcoin’s closing price on April 22 at $93,480 and today at $93,710, up almost 8% from Tuesday’s open of $87,511. The squeeze coincided with a sharp expansion in open interest: aggregate BTC OI climbed from $58.46 billion to $67.28 billion in 24 hours, a 15% jump that showed the inflow of fresh leverage.
An $8.8 billion burst of new contracts, many concentrated on perpetual venues, created a fertile backdrop for abrupt liquidations once the price pushed beyond $90,000.
Macro news set the stage for the rally. The IMF cut its global growth outlook and warned of stickier inflation. Hours later, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted at progress on trade talks with China, easing tariff angst and lifting risk appetite.
Meanwhile, a note from Standard Chartered flagged a twelve-year high in the US term premium and argued Bitcoin is undervalued versus emerging systemic risk, stoking demand for crypto as a policy hedge. Together with these headlines, the market drove a swift rotation out of bearish bets.
Why were shorts so exposed? Traders had been leaning into downside plays while open interest ballooned in the past month, with many positioning for softer prices on tariff volatility and higher real rates. When the macro tone flipped, thin liquidity between $90,000 and $94,000 accelerated the climb through stop zones, forcing automated liquidations.
The cascade bled into ETH, which lost $130.31 million, yet Bitcoin’s dominance shows that the bulk of speculative leverage had gravitated to BTC pairs. Bybit’s outsized share shows how different platforms shape liquidation flows. The exchange captured more than half of BTC losses, helped by its relatively low maintenance margin and popular inverse-perp contracts. HTX and Gate.io, with higher retail participation, saw double-digit shares as well. Meanwhile, Binance’s smaller slice, just under 9%, reflects stricter leverage rules in force since 2024.
The combination of such a high surge in open interest and sharply positive funding rates shows traders are crowding into leveraged longs rather than rebuilding exposure evenly. Volume and open-interest weighted funding rates on major platforms are now positive, so longs are paying an increasing carry to keep their positions. That premium signals a pronounced bullish tilt: if spot holds above $90,000, the positive carry could increase leverage. But if price stalls, high funding costs will push traders to cut size quickly, setting the stage for a long-side shake-out.
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