BTC breaks above 87,000 — this move was the bears lifting the price themselves
Last night before bed, BTC was hovering around 82,000. I woke up and it had hit 87,330 — the eight-month high. In the past 24 hours it’s risen nearly 6%.
Many people’s first reaction is, “The bull run is back.” But once you pull up the liquidation data, the flavor is completely different.
In the past 24 hours, the total BTC liquidations across the whole market were $601 million. Of that, shorts accounted for $544 million, while longs were only $57.22 million. Shorts made up about 90%.
This isn’t price being pushed up by buy-side demand. It’s shorts getting forced upward as the price is lifted. To put it simply: a large portion of the rally above is not new money entering — it’s other people’s stop-loss orders helping you push the ball.
Why are there so many shorts? Because in the middle of September, those days were unbearable. BTC once fell to 75,560. The Fear & Greed Index hit 51 — neutral. All over the screen were headlines like “the cycle is over” and “bear market confirmed.” That level had piled up a lot of people chasing shorts. Then once it broke 82,000, it triggered a chain liquidation — one rocket.
So what you need to watch now isn’t “how much higher it can go,” but what the leverage structure turns into.
After the breakout, the market also added roughly another $2 billion in futures leverage. That means the chips on the table become fragile again.
Remember these key numbers for BTC: if it pulls back and falls below 82,125, the cumulative liquidation impact on the main contract market’s long positions will reach $2.734 billion. Conversely, if it breaks upward above 90,669, there are another $1.122 billion in short positions that would get liquidated.
In one sentence: there’s ammunition both above and below. At this point, it’s not a trend level — it’s a battleground.
My approach is simple: don’t chase price with added leverage. People who are in cash should wait for a pullback around 82,000 to see whether there’s follow-through, rather than slapping your leg at 87,000.
An eight-month high feels great — but that moment is usually also the most expensive one.
Last night before bed, BTC was hovering around 82,000. I woke up and it had hit 87,330 — the eight-month high. In the past 24 hours it’s risen nearly 6%.
Many people’s first reaction is, “The bull run is back.” But once you pull up the liquidation data, the flavor is completely different.
In the past 24 hours, the total BTC liquidations across the whole market were $601 million. Of that, shorts accounted for $544 million, while longs were only $57.22 million. Shorts made up about 90%.
This isn’t price being pushed up by buy-side demand. It’s shorts getting forced upward as the price is lifted. To put it simply: a large portion of the rally above is not new money entering — it’s other people’s stop-loss orders helping you push the ball.
Why are there so many shorts? Because in the middle of September, those days were unbearable. BTC once fell to 75,560. The Fear & Greed Index hit 51 — neutral. All over the screen were headlines like “the cycle is over” and “bear market confirmed.” That level had piled up a lot of people chasing shorts. Then once it broke 82,000, it triggered a chain liquidation — one rocket.
So what you need to watch now isn’t “how much higher it can go,” but what the leverage structure turns into.
After the breakout, the market also added roughly another $2 billion in futures leverage. That means the chips on the table become fragile again.
Remember these key numbers for BTC: if it pulls back and falls below 82,125, the cumulative liquidation impact on the main contract market’s long positions will reach $2.734 billion. Conversely, if it breaks upward above 90,669, there are another $1.122 billion in short positions that would get liquidated.
In one sentence: there’s ammunition both above and below. At this point, it’s not a trend level — it’s a battleground.
My approach is simple: don’t chase price with added leverage. People who are in cash should wait for a pullback around 82,000 to see whether there’s follow-through, rather than slapping your leg at 87,000.
An eight-month high feels great — but that moment is usually also the most expensive one.