‘Insane Amount’ of Bitcoin Short Sellers Hope It Won’t Hit $70,000

Bitcoin short sellers are on edge as the asset approaches $70,000, with a staggering $1.67 billion of short positions at risk of liquidation. Will Bitcoin break out to new all-time highs, or will it succumb to the pressure of short sellers?

Bitcoin Short Sellers on Edge as $70,000 Looms

Bitcoin short sellers are probably crossing their fingers in hopes the asset won’t return to $70,000 in the near term, with a huge amount of liquidations at risk if it does. According to CoinGlass, a staggering $1.67 billion of short positions will be liquidated if Bitcoin returns to $70,000 - a price level it has been trading under since June 8.

Bitcoin’s price action has been volatile in recent weeks.

Bitcoin is down 3.23% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap. Pseudonymous crypto trader Ash Crypto acknowledged on June 17 that “there is an insane amount of Bitcoin short liquidations piling up at the topside.” A 7.46% increase from its current price of $65,136 would bring it to $70,000.

Markets are Bullish, But…

Despite the looming threat of liquidations, markets are incredibly bullish right now. Bitcoin and ETH liquidations are stacked, and a bounce is imminent, according to Discover Crypto CEO Joshua Jake. Bitcoin open interest (OI) - which is the total value of all outstanding or unsettled Bitcoin futures contracts across exchanges - has dropped 10.99% since reaching its all-time high on June 7 to $33.55 billion. However, Bitcoin OI is 82% higher compared to Jan. 1.

Bitcoin open interest has dropped in recent days.

Earlier in June, in the lead-up to June 7, Bitcoin’s OI surged over $2 billion in just three days, leading traders to believe it may trigger a sudden “whipsaw” effect on its price.

Liquidations Needed for New ATH

Willy Woo, a crypto analyst and creator of onchain data resource Woobull, suggested a major liquidation wipeout will better position Bitcoin to reach new all-time highs. “We need a solid amount of liquidations still before we get the all clear for further bullish activity,” Woo wrote on June 19. Woo is not the only analyst to use the word “boring” to describe Bitcoin’s recent price action following the Bitcoin halving on April 20.

Bitcoin’s price action has been described as “boring” by some analysts.

“I know it sucks, but BTC is not going to break all-time highs until more pain and boredom plays out,” Woo added. Global Macro Investor head of research Julien Bittel wrote on June 19 that “basically, it’s The Boring Zone before The Banana Zone.”