Bitcoin Climbs Above $67,000 as $198M in Shorts Get Wiped
Bitcoin has extended its rally through the day, climbing to around $67,250 from the $65,000 level it reclaimed this morning on the US-Iran ceasefire news.
The move has accelerated, and the derivatives data shows what is driving it: trapped shorts, not fresh conviction buying.
Liquidations Skew Heavily Short
According to Coinglass, Bitcoin saw $213.54 million in total liquidations over the past 24 hours, and $198.17 million of that, roughly 93%, was short positions forced to close. The skew holds across every timeframe: shorts made up $63.87 million of the $67.58 million liquidated in the past four hours, and $83.57 million of the $89.64 million over 12 hours. The pattern is unambiguous. Traders positioned for further downside were caught by the deal-driven bounce and forced to buy back, and that forced buying is a meaningful part of what pushed price higher.
The read is the same as it was at $65,000, only sharper: this is a squeeze-assisted rally. Squeezes move fast and can overshoot, but they are self-limiting, because once the shorts are flushed, the buying they generate disappears. The question is whether spot demand steps in to replace it.
Open Interest Recovers
Open interest tells the other half of the story. Bitcoin OI has climbed back to $48.16 billion, recovering from the lows that followed the early-June capitulation. Rising open interest alongside rising price suggests new positions are being opened rather than simply closed, which lends the move slightly more substance than a pure short-covering spike would have. It is a sign that participants are re-engaging, though it stops short of confirming a durable trend on its own.
The Chart: Constructive, but Overbought
On the 4-hour chart, Bitcoin has reclaimed both the 50-day moving average near $63,490, which has turned up, and the 100-day near $65,303, which it pushed through on the latest leg. That is a genuine structural improvement from the morning, when the 100-day was still acting as resistance. The 200-day at $71,132 remains overhead and is the next ceiling that defines whether this becomes more than a relief rally.
The caution sits in momentum. The 4-hour RSI has pushed to 73.84, firmly into overbought territory, which is the strongest reading in weeks but also the zone where short-term moves tend to pause or pull back. After a vertical run from $65,000 to $67,250, a retest of the reclaimed $65,300 level as support would be a normal and healthier next step than pushing straight up.
What It Means
The intraday picture is constructive, BTC has reclaimed key moving averages, open interest is recovering, and the deal catalyst is intact ahead of Friday’s signing. But with 93% of liquidations being shorts and RSI overbought, a portion of this move is mechanical rather than demand-driven. The durable version of this rally needs spot buyers to take over from squeezed shorts, and the clearest confirmation would be holding $65,300 on any pullback while the Friday US-Iran signing proceeds on schedule.
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
