Bullish Bitcoin Surge Results in $178 Million Loss for Bearish Investors as Prices Cross $34,000

In the past 24 hours, traders who had bet against Bitcoin (BTC) faced substantial losses, amounting to over $178 million, as BTC's price surged beyond a critical resistance level. This remarkable upswing was primarily driven by growing optimism surrounding the potential approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) and a recent ticker registration.

Data reveals that Bitcoin-related futures contracts were responsible for nearly half of the total crypto liquidations, totaling $400 million on Monday. In contrast, liquidations in Ether futures amounted to $50 million, encompassing both long and short positions.

Liquidation occurs when an exchange forcibly closes a leveraged position due to a trader's inability to meet margin requirements, resulting in a partial or complete loss of their initial margin. This typically happens when a trader lacks the necessary funds to maintain an open leveraged position.

The bulk of these liquidations were concentrated on cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Huobi, and OKX, each experiencing liquidations totaling $50 million. These figures suggest that traders were employing significant leverage on these platforms. The most substantial single liquidation order occurred on Binance, involving an order value of $10 million.

Bitcoin's price surged significantly, experiencing a 12% increase and briefly reaching $35,200 before retracing slightly on Tuesday morning. This substantial movement was primarily attributed to lower trading volumes and an overwhelming demand surge, which injected tens of billions of dollars into the overall market capitalization within just a few hours.

Market participants and analysts attributed this rally to the recent ticker registration of BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF. The ETF is currently under consideration by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These developments have fostered optimism for a potential resurgence in the cryptocurrency market, which had experienced a relatively stagnant period over the past few months.

Why $BTC is pumping?#iShares Spot #Bitcoin Trust is listed on The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). $IBTC

The #SEC has accepted the rule change to list and trade shares of the #Grayscale Ethereum Futures Trust (#ETF). pic.twitter.com/Ask2wsaUL8

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 24, 2023

Lucy Hu, a senior trader at Metalpha, offered her perspective, stating:

 "Bitcoin's momentum has also been fueled by the prospect of ETF approval and the growing number of ETF applications from leading companies. With the potential approval of Bitcoin ETFs and the upcoming halving event in April, the cryptocurrency market may embark on a notably strong bullish trend."

Read more: Signs of Profit-Taking: Large Crypto Trader Deposits $7M in LINK to Binance as Token Achieves 17-Month High