More than $110 million in bitcoin BTC$86,166.82 short positions were liquidated as the price of largest cryptocurrency climbed to $90,000 from an intraday low of $86,200 on Wednesday.
Coinglass data shows the short positions were liquidated in the past hour, with the majority occurring on bitcoin trading pairs.
The price surge also coincided with a relatively subdued drop in futures open interest, suggesting that those in short positions either covered their positions buying spot, as opposed to leveraged products, to minimize risk or were liquidated.
Bitcoin’s cumulative volume delta (CVD) rose by 1,100% during the spike, indicating that aggressive buyers are overpowering sellers. That’s behavior not seen since Dec. 1.
Altcoins lagged bitcoin’s move for the most part as bitcoin dominance climbed back towards 60%, a far cry from September when it reached as low as 56.7%.
Over the past year, Wednesday has been the strongest performing weekday for bitcoin, data from Velo shows.
Oversold RSI signals an extended bitcoin bull market
Julien Bittel, the head of macro research at Global Macro Investor argues that bitcoin’s recent price action is consistent with historical recoveries following “oversold” RSI readings, with the latest RSI breaking below 30 which occurred in September 2025.
Bittel said the traditional four year cycle is no longer valid, not because of the halving, but due to shifts in debt refinancing, longer term maturities and liquidity dynamics. The current bull market will extend into 2026, Bittel said.
Source: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/12/17/bitcoin-shorts-scramble-for-the-exits-as-btc-climbs
