Bitcoin’s latest liquidation sweep erased $652.84 million across Crypto on April 23, wiping out 172,948 traders. Bitcoin alone has donated $321.7 million, or about 50% of the total.
The replacement dashboard shows shorts carrying almost the entire weight on Bybit, HTX, Gate.io and Coinex. It was shorts that over 95% of the BTC positions were liquidated, and across the market, the ratio was sitting near 94.8%. BYBIT led the tally with $163.92 million in BTC losses, followed by HTX at $5,087 million and Gate.io at $44 million, with Binance, OKX and smaller venues filling in the rest.
After a sharp price rebound, the wipeout was deployed. Spot Data closed Sbitcoin at $93,480 on April 22, and today at $93,710, up almost 8% from its opening at $87,511 on Tuesday. This squeeze coincided with a rapid growth of open interest. The tally of BTC OI is a 15% jump, rising from $58.466 billion to $672.8 billion in 24 hours, indicating a new leverage inflow.
A burst of new $8.8 billion contracts, which many concentrated on permanent venues, created a fertile background for a sudden liquidation after prices exceeded $90,000.
Macro News set the stage for the rally. The IMF has reduced its global growth outlook and warned of sticky inflation. Hours later, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent suggested progress in trade talks with China, alleviating tariff concerns and lifting the risk appeal.
Meanwhile, the standard chartered memo has scored a 12-year high at the US period premium, claiming that Bitcoin is undervalued, a new systemic risk and robbing the demand for crypto as a policy hedge. Along with these headlines, the market has encouraged a quick rotation from bearish bets.
Why were the shorts so exposed? Traders have been leaning towards a shortcoming play while open profits have bulged over the past month, placing more positions due to tariff volatility and softer prices with a higher real rate. When the macrotone turned over, thin liquidity between $90,000 and $94,000 accelerated climbing through the stop zone, forcing automated liquidation.
Cascade bleed to ETH and lost $130.31 million, but Bitcoin’s advantage shows that a large portion of speculative leverage has been drawn to the BTC pair. Bybit’s ingenious sharing shows how different platforms form liquidation. The exchange earned more than half of the BTC losses and was supported by its relatively low maintenance margin and general reverse PERP contracts. HTX and gate.io also saw double-digit stocks due to high retail participation. Meanwhile, smaller slices from Binance are under 9%, and have implemented stricter leverage rules since 2024.
This high surge in open interest and sharp positive funding rates indicates that traders are busy with leveraged long rather than evenly restructuring their exposure. Volume and open weighted funding rates on major platforms are now positive, so Long pays an increasing carry to maintain position. Its premium shows a pronounced bullish slope. If the spot exceeds $90,000, positive carry could increase leverage. However, if prices stall, higher funding costs will help traders quickly cut sizes and set the stage for long-term shakeouts.
Over $93,000 Bitcoin spikes wiped out the shorts, and $652 million, which was liquidated across the market, first appeared on Cryptoslate.
