Why Did Bitcoin’s Move Trigger Heavy Liquidations?

Bitcoin’s brief move to $80,594 on Monday caught bearish traders offside again, triggering $370 million in total crypto liquidations over 24 hours across 97,235 traders, according to CoinGlass data.

Short liquidations accounted for $301.93 million of the total, roughly 4 times the amount liquidated from long traders. Bitcoin alone accounted for $179 million of the wipeout, while Ether traders added $95 million. The largest single liquidation was an $11.77 million ETH/USDT short on Binance.

The squeeze followed a similar event on April 18, when $593 million in shorts were cleared as Bitcoin moved past $77,000. Funding rates on Bitcoin perpetual futures have stayed negative for much of April, showing that short traders had been paying longs to keep bearish exposure open.

What Does Derivatives Data Say About the Rally?

Futures data shows that leveraged activity is rising across major assets. Bitcoin futures open interest climbed to 763,350 BTC from a May 1 low of 707,240 BTC, pointing to renewed capital entering the market after end-of-month de-risking in April.

Bitcoin’s 24-hour cumulative volume delta has also turned positive, meaning market buyers are driving trade flow. Ether futures open interest rose to 14.17 million ETH, its highest level since April 18, supported by positive funding rates and positive volume delta.

Zcash has seen one of the strongest derivatives moves, with open interest near a 4-month high of 2.26 million tokens and funding rates around 7%. By contrast, Monero and M show signs of crowded bullish trades, with funding rates above 60% raising the risk of long liquidations if momentum fades.

Investor Takeaway

The rally is being driven by forced short covering and renewed futures activity, not only spot buying. Rising open interest can support further upside, but crowded leverage raises the risk of sharp reversals.

Are Spot ETFs Supporting Bitcoin’s Breakout?

US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $153.9 million in net inflows last week, according to SoSoValue. April inflows reached $1.97 billion, the highest monthly total since October 2025.

Ether ETFs moved in the opposite direction, with $82.5 million in net outflows ending a 3-week inflow streak. Still, Ether gained 2.3% to $2,368 and rose 2.2% on the week, while XRP, BNB, Solana, and Dogecoin also traded higher.

Dogecoin remained the strongest major token, rising 3.5% on the day and 14.3% on the week to $0.1119, extending a breakout that has coincided with year-high open interest in DOGE futures.

FxPro analysts said Bitcoin still needs a stronger technical close before the move is confirmed. “The rising price and the downward-sloping 200-day moving average are actively converging with an important long-term trend line at $83,600. Consolidation above this level could further encourage traders, but we would prefer to see consolidation above $85,000 first.”

Investor Takeaway

Bitcoin ETF inflows are giving the rally spot-market support, but technical confirmation remains tied to the $83,600-$85,000 range. Failure to hold that area could leave leveraged traders exposed.

Why Are RWA Tokens Rallying?

Real-world asset tokens were among the strongest performers after the CLARITY Act yield compromise improved hopes for a clearer regulatory path. The compromise would push firms to restructure reward programs from a “buy and hold” model to a “buy and use” model.

Ondo Finance’s ONDO led the move, rising 11% over 24 hours and breaking above its reported 90-day trading range. TRU and PENDLE also gained as investors returned to tokenized real-world asset plays.

Ondo’s total value locked stands at $3.57 billion, with a market value of $1.5 billion, according to DeFiLlama. The broader tokenized real-world asset market has reached more than $30.9 billion, according to RWA.xyz.

The rally also followed project-level activity. Ondo Finance recently tapped Broadridge Financial Solutions to add proxy voting and filings access for more than 250 tokenized stocks and ETFs, adding another institutional link to its tokenized securities offering.