BTC shorts lose $281M as squeeze pushes bitcoin toward $62K

Ether and solana led a broad crypto rally on Friday as a sharp short squeeze pushed bitcoin toward $62,000, capping the market's strongest week since mid-June. Coinglass data shows bearish traders lost $281 million to liquidations over 24 hours, nearly double the $159 million in longs forced out, across $440 million in total closures and 95,690 traders.

Bitcoin traded around $61,360, up 2.5% over seven days, while ether rose 4.2% in 24 hours to about $1,702 and is up 9.7% on the week. Solana held near $80 with an 18.6% weekly gain, the strongest among majors. XRP added 5.7% on the week to $1.09, and Hyperliquid's HYPE rose 5.1% on the day.

Why it matters

The squeeze mechanic is straightforward: when shorts are forced to close, they buy back the asset, and that buying pushes prices into the next tranche of shorts, turning a modest bounce into a cascade. Ether absorbed the largest share of the damage at $157 million in wiped bearish positions, against bitcoin's $103 million in an unusual flip. The single largest liquidation was an $18.2 million ether position on Hyperliquid.

The macro tailwind added fuel. Weaker-than-expected US June employment data trimmed bets that the Federal Reserve will hike again, weakening the dollar and lifting risk assets from crypto to Asian shares. South Korea's Kospi climbed 3% after flirting with a technical bear market, and Samsung Electronics rose 6.8% on reports that Anthropic is in talks with the Korean company to manufacture a custom AI chip.

Market impact

A stabilizing AI trade removes the immediate pressure of capital rotating away from crypto, though it also revives the competition for flows that defined the first half. Forced short-covering produces fast moves but not durable demand, US spot bitcoin ETFs are still working through record monthly outflows, and the market enters the third quarter with thinner summer liquidity that cuts both ways. The open question is whether this squeeze becomes a trend.