Share this article
Bitcoin shorts scramble for the exits as BTC climbs
Bitcoin surged from an intraday low near $86,200 to reclaim $90,000, driven by aggressive spot buying and a wave of short liquidations.
Updated Dec 17, 2025, 3:46 p.m. Published Dec 17, 2025, 3:41 p.m.
What to know:
- Over $110 million in bitcoin short positions were liquidated in the past hour, according to Coinglass alongside a muted rise in open interest
- The action points to spot-driven demand rather than leveraged bets driving BTC's surge to $90,000.
- Bitcoin’s cumulative volume delta jumped 1,100% during the rally, signaling aggressive buying pressure not seen since early December.
- Global Macro Investor’s Julien Bittel says an "oversold" RSI reading supports a prolonged bull market, arguing the traditional four-year cycle has broken down as bitcoin dominance climbs toward 60%.
More than $110 million in bitcoin 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.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
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Bittel said the traditional four year cycle is no longer valid, not because of the halving, but due to shifts in debt refinancing, longer term maturities and liquidity dynamics.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.
More For You
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
Traders mull the bottom as bitcoin returns to week's lows below $86,000
One analyst isn't quite ready to call a bottom, but says bitcoin is surely in an oversold condition.
What to know:
- Bitcoin's early rally Wednesday seems a faint memory as the price has returned to the week's lows.
- Precious metals continue to get bid, with silver rushing to yet another new record and gold closing in on an all-time high.
- One analyst cautioned against reading too much into the current bitcoin price action due to year-end positioning and tax considerations.
Top Stories
