Bitcoin’s price closed last week near $84,000 and flushed an estimated $140 million in short positions, leaving a fresh wall of bearish leverage stacked between $86,000 and $88,000.
Key Takeaways
- BTC closed the week of Oct. 11 at $83,773 after a low of $80,393, down 3.2% week over week.
- Kook Capital data showed 93.3% of $26.34M in BTC liquidations were shorts as ETH shorts lost $29.5M.
- KillaXBT flags shorts at $86K-$88K as U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs log $681M in weekly outflows.
What Actually Got Liquidated?
Nearly $140 million in shorts were liquidated as bitcoin confirmed a weekly close above $83,000. Hours earlier, a heatmap shared by Kook Capital showed about $95 million in shorts wiped out as BTC knocked on $84,000. That chart put bitcoin liquidations at $26.34 million, with 93.3% of them shorts.
Ether shorts fared worse, with the same data showing $29.50 million in ETH liquidations, 80.9% of them shorts. Starknet’s STRK saw $15.82 million liquidated and NEAR another $7.18 million. “Everyone loaded shorts after the $80k wick,” Kook Capital wrote.
Why Did $83,000 Matter?
BTC opened the week of Oct. 5 at $86,530 and dropped to $80,393 at its worst, with crypto liquidations topping $1.1 billion. The weekly candle ultimately closed near $83,800 on Sunday night. That is still down about 3.2% on the week, but far from the lows.
For traders who pressed shorts near $80,000, a close back above $83,000 was the signal to cover. Some traders argued the move was a breakout and a retest of the $82,500 weekly resistance, now turned into support, and said BTC could be above $90,000 “in a couple weeks.”
At press time, bitcoin is trading near $84,000, up about 1.3% in 24 hours. The early-week drift is similar to the setup the desk described Sunday, when bitcoin’s price eyed $85,000 without real momentum behind it.
Where Is the Next Pile of Leverage?
Onchain analyst KillaXBT said the move “did exactly what it needed to do,” taking out low-leverage longs on the way down. “Now it’s just shorts between 86–88K,” the trader wrote. The attached liquidation map showed dense short clusters stacked from roughly $86,000 up to $88,000, with long clusters sitting lower around $80,000 to $82,500.
Positioning does not look stretched yet, with Binance’s BTCUSDT funding rate sitting near 0.002% per eight hours on Monday, close to neutral. Open interest on the same contract held around 92,700 BTC, or about $7.75 billion, roughly flat over 48 hours. About 58% of Binance accounts were positioned long.
The options crowd is leaning the same way as the bulls and Bitcoin.com News reported Friday that traders had stacked $4.5 billion in calls as $95,000 bets took shape.
What Could Go Wrong?
Spot demand is the weak link. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs posted net outflows of $681 million from Oct. 5 to Oct. 9, ending a three-week inflow streak. Analysts flagged a “deep negative” Coinbase premium, a sign U.S. buyers are paying less than offshore traders. Some traders still expect $100k+ by year end but said the market needs “a consistent spot bid soon.” Interesting week ahead for the crypto market, to say the least!