Short liquidations hit $1 billion as Bitcoin trades at $118k

Short liquidations reached over $1B as BTC charted new records above $118,000. For the year to date, this is the biggest short liquidation event, mostly affecting BTC and ETH markets. 

The most recent price action for BTC liquidated short positions accrued all the way to $118,000. In the past 24 hours, BTC short liquidations reached 655.46M, with remaining short liquidity all the way to $118,800. The new price record expanded the year-on-year growth, as BTC spent July 2024 with sideways trading, at around $55,000.

Most of the liquidations happened late on July 10, during US trading hours. In general, traders remained more cautious in 2025, rarely causing significant liquidations. The recent rally remained mostly unaffected by the weekly options expiry on Deribit, as the contracts expired under current market prices. 

The current levels of over $1B in 24 hours are an anomaly, mostly tied to the exuberant market move for BTC. Short liquidations reached over $965M, while long liquidations reached just 10% of the total. The biggest single wallet liquidation was for $88.55M on HTX. The near-vertical rally was also caused by a batch of 5,000 BTC getting liquidated on Binance. 

One of the big waves of liquidations happened as BTC decisively breached the previous all-time high above $112,000, liquidating up to $340M. 

Above those levels, traders are yet to allocate liquidity, and a short squeeze to $120,000 becomes less probable. BTC traders are rebuilding liquidity rapidly despite the liquidations, with derivative open interest back to $38B. 

Futures volumes for BTC remained above $59B in the past 24 hours, once again getting ahead of Ethereum (ETH) activity. BTC dominance remains near its 2021 levels at 62.6%, still getting more attention than ETH. At the same time, ETH managed to recover the $3,000 level, with $258M in short liquidations for the past 24 hours. 

BTC rally causes top whale liquidations

For some traders, the BTC rally was nearing its end, and some of the high-profile traders reopened short positions. Both James Wynn and @qwatio, two of the most watched whales, set up short positions just before the rally. 

Wynn got liquidated for a small 40X leveraged short on BTC, as the leading coin did not backtrack from its peak levels. 

James Wynn Again 🚨@JamesWynnReal LIQUIDATED Again ,

He Deposite $27,555 $USDC into Hyperliquid And Claimed $3960 Referral Reward, then went all in with 40X $BTC short Position,

The Position Got fully LIQUIDATED right now 😓 pic.twitter.com/URGZe9LhGA

— Mr.Bull🚀 (@Danameer12) July 11, 2025

The other whale, @qwatio, currently closed all perpetual futures positions. The Hyperliquid whale liquidations were mostly for show, as the positions were created shortly before the BTC rally. 

Wynn and @qwatio shorted BTC while the market still flashed a ‘greed’ indicator, turning the short positions into a publicity stunt. However, @qwatio has accrued real losses from attempts to short BTC in the past weeks, with overall losses of $16.72M. 

Leveraged trading becomes riskier as BTC remains in price discovery territory, aiming for milestone prices. For now, the trading profile has not shifted to extreme greed, as other days of market frenzy remain a possibility. 

The recent BTC trading and accumulation activity have mostly left retail behind, and reflect the decisions of institutions and whales. BTC is once again seen as a safe haven asset, though combined with the potential for unlimited upside and price discovery.

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