Bitcoin Surges Past $71,000 Amid Massive Crypto Liquidations

MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. The price of Bitcoin gained more than 10% during trading to over $71,000, according to Binance platform data.

As of 11:23 a.m. Moscow time (8:23 a.m. GMT) the price of Bitcoin was up by 10.69% at $71,147. As of 11:30 a.m. Moscow time (8:30 a.m. GMT) Bitcoin was up by 10.97% at $71,337. Meanwhile the price of Ethereum (ETH) climbed by 18.8% to $2,277.79.

Data from the Coinglass platform indicates that global cryptocurrency exchanges liquidated the positions of over 184,000 traders over the past 24 hours, totaling more than $3.26 bln. Bitcoin accounted for the largest share of these liquidations ($1.67 bln). Short positions accounted for $3 bln of the total, while long positions accounted for $263.09 mln. The single largest liquidation order in the last 24 hours was executed on the Hyperliquid exchange for the BTC-USD pair valued at $48.8 mln.

Cryptocurrency liquidation is the forced closure of a trading position by an exchange when leverage is used (a mechanism allowing a trader to manage a position using funds borrowed from the exchange or broker) due to insufficient funds to maintain the trade. It occurs when losses on an open position exceed the size of the initial trade, serving to protect the trader from debt and the exchange from risk.