Bitcoin has surged above $66,000, hitting its highest point since mid-June when it was valued at over $67,000. In the past 24 hours, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) has increased by 4.7%, reaching around $66,670. Alongside this, Ethereum (ETH) has climbed above $3,500, and Solana (SOL) is currently trading at over $170, with gains of 3% and 8% respectively. Other altcoins such as BNB (BNB), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Cardano (ADA) are also experiencing positive trading, with increases of 4.9%, 4.5%, and 3% respectively.
Bitcoin’s price surge coincides with a global IT outage that has affected various industries and services. This incident has sparked discussions about the possibility of Bitcoin becoming a strategic national reserve for the US. The chaos caused by the IT outage, which disrupted airlines, banks, media, and other global companies, contributed to Bitcoin’s rally. Additionally, the market saw a significant increase in spot ETF volume.
As Bitcoin’s price skyrocketed, those who had taken short positions suffered significant losses. In just one hour, $6 million worth of BTC shorts were liquidated, compared to only $79,700 in long positions. Over the past four hours, bearish Bitcoin bets worth more than $12 million were liquidated, while long positions accounted for approximately $1.6 million. In the broader market, short positions worth over $30 million were liquidated, surpassing long liquidations by a large margin, as only $5.3 million in long positions were affected during this period.
On Thursday, analysts at Santiment had pointed out a surge in short positions in the Bitcoin market when the price was below $63,000. As the BTC price rose above $66,800, liquidations increased.