Bitcoin weekend blip wiped out $250M in over leveraged long traders while open interest weakens

Bitcoin’s rally squeezed short sellers last the week. By Sunday, the reversal was hitting leveraged longs.

At about 07:00 UTC on Aug. 23, CoinGlass showed $101.39 million of crypto long positions liquidated over four hours, almost 86% of the window’s $118.13 million total. The 24-hour view put long liquidations at $250.57 million out of $339.73 million.

Bitcoin contributed $38.66 million of the four-hour long liquidations and $55.82 million over 24 hours. At the time, BTC traded near $76,088, down about 1.8% over the preceding day after approaching $80,000 during the earlier rally. Since then, Bitcoin has recovered slightly to near $77,300.

The liquidation mix confirms a sharp change in who was being forced out. The positioning data, however, showed leverage shrinking during the pullback.

CoinGlass placed aggregate Bitcoin futures open interest near $54.54 billion, down 2.65% over 24 hours. Major perpetual funding rates were generally near the 0.01% baseline, while the aggregate account long-short ratio stood at 0.9238. A market already reloading with crowded longs would typically show expanding open interest and richer funding; this capture showed restrained positioning on both measures.

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The washout was also broader than Bitcoin. Binance accounted for $65.02 million of all crypto liquidations over four hours, including $58.64 million in longs. The largest single order shown over 24 hours was an $11.72 million ETHUSDT liquidation on Binance.

The earlier short squeeze carries several totals tied to different windows. CoinGlass said on Aug. 20 that $3.07 billion in crypto shorts had been liquidated “today,” without defining exact start and end times. Its live historical table separately listed a $2.99 billion event dated Aug. 19, while CryptoSlate’s prior coverage and the Associated Press used broader figures above $4 billion. Direct comparison would turn different scopes into one misleading record total.

Spot ETF demand provides a counterweight to a derivatives-only explanation.

Farside Investors recorded five consecutive sessions of US spot Bitcoin ETF inflows through Friday, including $307.5 million on Aug. 21, before the creation channel closed for the weekend. The timing leaves long liquidations and thinner weekend spot support entangled.

The Aug. 23 snapshot therefore captures a long flush already reducing open interest. Evidence of the next crowded long trade would have to emerge in a later expansion of leverage, funding or both. Until then, the live data describes a cleanup of existing risk, with Monday’s reopened ETF channel providing the next spot-demand test.

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