Shorts get squeezed 🧃

Bitcoin surged toward $70K on Wednesday, liquidating $1.14 billion in short positions across the crypto market in a single hour ahead of a White House crypto meeting.

Author

Guillermo Jimenez
August 19, 2026

📝 What you need to know

Bitcoin is charging back toward $70,000, and short sellers are paying for it. The largest coin by market cap touched an intraday high of $69,749 on Wednesday and traded near $68,689, up 9.3% on the week from a $62,832 open. 

The surge torched leveraged bears: CoinGlass logged $1.14 billion in short positions liquidated in a single hour, with Bitcoin alone accounting for $677.64 million—a classic short squeeze, where forced buybacks push prices higher and trip the next layer of shorts. The timing wasn't random.

The rally landed hours before a White House sit-down between Trump, SEC and CFTC chairs, and executives from Coinbase, Ripple, and Kalshi, plus the Fed's July minutes, as traders trimmed rate-hike bets. Spot Bitcoin ETFs turned net positive again, and SkyBridge's Anthony Scaramucci argued the roughly 55% drawdown signals a bear market nearly spent.

Bitcoin Surges Toward $70K as $1.14 Billion in Crypto Shorts Get Rekt in an Hour - Decrypt

Bitcoin is barreling toward $70,000 again, and it's claiming short sellers along with it: over $1 billion in shorts liquidated in one hour.

Bitcoin · BTCAugust 19, 2026
$68,195
▲ 5.4% past 24 hours
View live price

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