Bears Face Bloodbath as Bitcoin Tops $87,000 in Broad Crypto Surge

TradingKey - Cryptocurrencies Surge Across the Board as Bitcoin Tops $87,000, Igniting a Wave of Short Liquidations.

On September 22, the cryptocurrency market surged over 5%, with total market capitalization approaching $3 trillion, hitting an eight-month high. Meanwhile, multiple mainstream coins broke through major resistance levels, with Bitcoin (BTC) surging over 5% and briefly touching $87,000; Ethereum (ETH) gaining over 3% and briefly breaking above the $2,800 mark; and Ripple (XRP) jumping over 7% to rise above $1.5.

Previously, the market oscillated repeatedly at high levels, accumulating a large volume of bearish or hedging leveraged short positions. As BTC forcefully broke through the key resistance level of $82,000, it triggered dense liquidations on-chain and across centralized exchanges. Over the past 24 hours, more than 130,000 traders were liquidated, with total liquidations reaching $1 billion, of which short positions accounted for $850 million, or 85%.

Crypto market liquidation data, source: CoinGlass

This rally in the cryptocurrency market was mainly driven by the resolution of macroeconomic headwinds, combined with falling U.S. Treasury yields and international crude oil prices. In addition, the crypto market itself saw regulatory tailwinds, as innovation exemptions introduced by the U.S. SEC accelerated the compliance process for stock tokenization, driving market bullish sentiment high.