Traders Pile Into Bets Against Bitcoin Price — Is A Short Squeeze Looming?

After declining to around $65,500 on Friday, Bitcoin appears to be recovering slowly this weekend. Having briefly reclaimed the $67,000 level on Saturday, March 28, the premier cryptocurrency seems to be enjoying a brewing bullish momentum. According to the latest on-chain data, the Bitcoin price might be preparing for a broader expansion to the upside over the next few weeks.

BTC Net Short Positions Jump 52% In Two Days

In a recent post on the social media platform X, popular crypto trader Ali Martinez shared an insight into the general sentiment among the crowd in the world’s largest cryptocurrency market. The crypto analyst revealed that a record number of traders are currently betting against the price of Bitcoin.

This on-chain observation is based on the Net Short metric, which measures the difference between the number of new short positions opened and the number of existing short positions closed over a given period. Typically, a positive value suggests that more new positions are being opened more than closed, while a negative Net Short metric signals otherwise.

According to data highlighted by Martinez, the number of “short” positions being taken by the Bitcoin traders is up by more than 52% over the past two days. This trend has perhaps been influenced by the waning momentum — as evidenced by the fall to $65,500 — of the BTC price in the last few days.

Merely looking at this piece of data, it could be concluded that the crowd sentiment is tilting toward the bearish side of the market, implying potential further downside for the premier cryptocurrency. However, historical trends show that the crypto market tends to move in the opposite direction of the crowd.

Martinez wrote on X:

Historically, when everyone leans too far to one side, the opposite often happens. If BTC starts to climb, all those people betting against it will be forced to buy back in, potentially fueling a powerful “short squeeze” to the upside.

Typically, a short squeeze is a phenomenon where the price of a cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, in this case) rises unexpectedly, forcing short traders to try to cover their positions by buying the asset. The forced liquidation of these short positions also adds fuel to the further upward price movement.

Bitcoin Price At A Glance

As of this writing, the price of BTC stands at around $66,880, reflecting a nearly 2% jump in the past 24 hours.

Featured image created by DALL.E, chart from TradingView