The crypto market just delivered its most brutal lesson to short sellers since 2021. Over the span of 24 hours on August 19-20, roughly $3 billion in short positions were vaporized as Bitcoin ripped higher, dragging the total crypto market cap up by approximately $280 billion in the process.
Long liquidations, by comparison, were a rounding error at around $264 million. This wasn’t a two-sided shakeout. It was a one-directional steamroller aimed squarely at the bears.
The anatomy of a historic squeeze
Bitcoin broke out of a six-week trading range and surged roughly 8% intraday, peaking at $71,396.50. That marked its highest price since early June, and the move happened with the kind of speed that turns leveraged short positions into dust.
At one point, more than $1 billion in short positions were liquidated in a single hour.
