Short Traders Suffer $200M in Losses as Ether, Cardano Lead Crypto Majors' Gains

Crypto market capitalization has increased about 3.5% in the past 24 hours.

AccessTimeIconJan 12, 2023 at 10:19 a.m. UTC
Updated Jan 12, 2023 at 2:15 p.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

Traders betting on a market-wide decline were caught off guard as a broad recovery in the past 24 hours saw $200 million in shorts, or bets against price rises, getting liquidated.

The amount added to the more than $150 million in shorts liquidated earlier this week as bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) broke above key resistance levels, and major tokens like XRP and solana (SOL) rose as much as 20%. Similar levels of liquidation on short trades haven't been seen since October, data from Coinglass shows.

Ether-tracked futures experienced $110 million in both short and long liquidations, the most among all major cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin futures saw $77 million in liquidations, while avalanche (AVAX) and gala (GALA) each saw $4.5 million in losses after volatile trading on Wednesday.

Crypto exchange OKX took the lion’s share of these liquidations at over $128 million, followed by Binance at $42 million. Overall, the price surge saw crypto's total market capitalization increase by 3.5% in the past 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows.

Bitcoin rallied above $18,000 on Thursday after pushing the threshold for the 10th time in 12 days on Wednesday. Ether rose 4.5% to over $1,400 in the past 24 hours, while cardano (ADA) added as much as 5% before retreating.

QCP Capital sees a strong breakout above $18,000 for bitcoin as a key indicator of recovery, with the next level after that at $28,000.

“Despite the mini-rally, BTC is still trading in an extremely tight falling wedge – with $18,000 the key breakout level to the top side,” the fund said in a Telegram broadcast last week. “ETH continues looking decidedly more bullish than BTC, although it too is still trading within a consolidation pattern."

Consolidation in technical analysis refers to an asset oscillating between a well-defined pattern of trading levels. Consolidation is generally interpreted as market indecisiveness, which ends when the asset's price moves above or below the trading pattern.


Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Data & Tokens team, focusing on decentralized finance, markets, on-chain data, and governance across all major and minor blockchains.


Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.