Bitcoin surged past $78,000 on Friday to hit a fresh 10-week high, as easing geopolitical tensions around the U.S.-Israel-Iran situation boosted both crypto and equity markets. The breakout above range resistance triggered a wave of leveraged short liquidations.
More than $660 million in short positions were flushed out, with Bitcoin responsible for roughly $353 million of that total and Ether accounting for about $160 million. Across all futures markets, roughly $826 million was liquidated over the previous 24 hours.
The single largest recorded squeeze occurred on Hyperliquid, where a $15.75 million BTC-USDT short was closed. Clusters of large short liquidations often amplify upward moves; CoinGlass data showed aggregate futures open interest for Bitcoin climbed about 13% over the same 24-hour window, suggesting rising leverage and increased participation that favored bulls in this rally.
Order-book snapshots from Hyblock indicated asks between $77,500 and $78,000 were absorbed as BTC pushed to intraday highs, consistent with concentrated short-covering and demand at those levels.
On the weekly chart, Bitcoin’s moving average convergence divergence (MACD) produced a bullish cross, emerging from one of the lowest readings the indicator has reached. Historically, similar weekly MACD crossovers have preceded sharp rallies. Market commentators highlighted the significance of the weekly close and the extreme starting point of the cross: Sykodelic emphasized the importance of the weekly close, Mikybull Crypto observed that a “big move” often follows this pattern, and The Chart Report noted prior crossovers have shown a high historical win rate and strong median 12-month returns.
Earlier examples, including the 2022 bear-market trough, were followed by substantial gains. Several analysts see further upside for Bitcoin from here, with some projecting targets near $90,000 and above as BTC continues to recover and test higher resistance.
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