Share this article

Bitcoin Shorts Lose $150M as BTC Poised for ‘Tremendous Upside’

A market observer said that bitcoin and crypto markets will enter an “unprecedented phase of adoption” as prices eventually breach lifetime peaks.

Updated Mar 8, 2024, 10:12 p.m. Published Feb 27, 2024, 4:58 a.m.
(nosheep/Pixabay)
(nosheep/Pixabay)
  • Bitcoin’s price rally has shaken out leveraged bearish bets.
  • Analysts said the cryptocurrency is a new bull market and poised to rally ahead of the impending mining reward halving.

Leveraged bets against bitcoin lost over $150 million in the past 24 hours as prices rallied 10% for the biggest daily gain since October, spurring calls for a firm new bull market.

BTC briefly topped the $57,000 level early Tuesday to reach its highest price since November 2021 on the back of multiple catalysts, such as rising volumes on spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) and institutional buying.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

Covering shorts may have contributed to the asset’s strength since the start of this week. Data from CoinGlass show short bets have lost over $180 million since Sunday. Still, open interest jumped from $48 billion to nearly $54 billion – showing a rise in bullish bets as traders expected volatility.

Liquidation is when an exchange forcefully closes a trader’s leveraged position due to a margin shortfall. It happens when a trader lacks sufficient funds to keep the trade open.

Large liquidations can signal the local top or bottom of a steep price move, which may allow traders to position themselves accordingly.

The bitcoin bump buoyed the broader crypto market. Ether , Solana’s SOL and Cardano’s ADA rose 8% in the past 24 hours, while – a bitcoin layer-2 token – spiked over 25%.

Market observers said bitcoin is firmly in a “new bull market” and could see a significant upside as the anticipated halving event approaches.

“Bitcoin’s decisive rally signals the de facto start of a new bull market,” said Alex Adelman, founder at Lolli, in an email to CoinDesk. “Major price movements are being driven by sheer positive market sentiment and persistent bitcoin ETF inflows, which reached new daily highs with the day’s rally.”

“With the bitcoin halving just over a month away, which historically brings price increases, tremendous upside lies ahead for bitcoin,” Adelman added.

Halving is part of the Bitcoin network’s code to reduce inflationary pressure on the cryptocurrency and will cut the rewards in half for successfully mining a bitcoin block. This makes obtaining or mining new bitcoin much harder and has historically preceded bull runs.

More For You

Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

GP Basic Image

What to know:

  • As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
  • GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
  • Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

More For You

Asia Morning Briefing: Fed Cut Brings Little Volatility as Bitcoin Waits for Japan

Aerial view of Tokyo (Jaison Lin/Unsplash, modified by CoinDesk)

CryptoQuant data shows seller exhaustion as whales pull back from exchanges, while traders prepare for a closely watched BOJ meeting that could influence global liquidity.

What to know:

  • Bitcoin remains stable above $91,000 as the Federal Reserve cuts rates by 25 basis points.
  • Market attention shifts to Japan, where a rate hike is expected at the upcoming Bank of Japan meeting.
  • Gold prices rise following the Fed's rate cut, while silver hits a record due to strong demand and tight supply.