Exchange dashboards show shorts carried almost the entire weight: on Bybit, HTX, Gate.io, and CoinEx, more than 95% of BTC positions liquidated were shorts, and across the market, the ratio sat near 94.8%. Bybit led the tally with $163.92 million in BTC losses, followed by HTX at $50.87 million and Gate.io at $44 million, while Binance, OKX, and smaller venues filled out the rest.

The wipe-out unfolded after a sharp price rebound. Spot data place sBitcoin’s closing price on April 22 at $93,480 and today at $93,710, up almost 8% from Tuesday’s open of $87,511. The squeeze coincided with a sharp expansion in open interest: aggregate BTC OI climbed from $58.46 billion to $67.28 billion in 24 hours, a 15% jump that showed the inflow of fresh leverage.

An $8.8 billion burst of new contracts, many concentrated on perpetual venues, created a fertile backdrop for abrupt liquidations once the price pushed beyond $90,000.

Macro news set the stage for the rally. The IMF cut its global growth outlook and warned of stickier inflation. Hours later, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted at progress on trade talks with China, easing tariff angst and lifting risk appetite.

Meanwhile, a note from Standard Chartered flagged a twelve-year high in the US term premium and argued Bitcoin is undervalued versus emerging systemic risk, stoking demand for crypto as a policy hedge. Together with these headlines, the market drove a swift rotation out of bearish bets.

Why were shorts so exposed? Traders had been leaning into downside plays while open interest ballooned in the past month, with many positioning for softer prices on tariff volatility and higher real rates. When the macro tone flipped, thin liquidity between $90,000 and $94,000 accelerated the climb through stop zones, forcing automated liquidations.

The cascade bled into ETH, which lost $130.31 million, yet Bitcoin’s dominance shows that the bulk of speculative leverage had gravitated to BTC pairs. Bybit’s outsized share shows how different platforms shape liquidation flows. The exchange captured more than half of BTC losses, helped by its relatively low maintenance margin and popular inverse-perp contracts. HTX and Gate.io, with higher retail participation, saw double-digit shares as well. Meanwhile, Binance’s smaller slice, just under 9%, reflects stricter leverage rules in force since 2024.

The combination of such a high surge in open interest and sharply positive funding rates shows traders are crowding into leveraged longs rather than rebuilding exposure evenly. Volume and open-interest weighted funding rates on major platforms are now positive, so longs are paying an increasing carry to keep their positions. That premium signals a pronounced bullish tilt: if spot holds above $90,000, the positive carry could increase leverage. But if price stalls, high funding costs will push traders to cut size quickly, setting the stage for a long-side shake-out.

The post Bitcoin’s spike above $93k wipes out shorts, $652M liquidated across the market appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin (BTC) surged past $93,000 on Tuesday afternoon, climbing nearly 7% amid renewed investor optimism and fresh hopes of a thaw in U.S.-China trade tensions, but headwinds persist that could cap further upside, analytics firm CryptoQuant cautioned.

Markets were buoyed by morning remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who reportedly told investors at a closed-door JPMorgan event that the tariff standoff with China was unsustainable. Bessent said de-escalation would come “in the very near future,” characterizing current conditions as a “trade embargo.” However, he cautioned that a more comprehensive deal between the two nations could take even years.

Then President Trump, speaking to reporters in the White House later in the afternoon, said that U.S. tariffs on China “will come down substantially” from the current 145% level, allaying concerns of a spiraling trade war.

He also added that he has no intention of firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, following recent pressure on the head of the U.S. central bank to lower interest rates.

The largest crypto by market capitalization rose just shy of $93,400 following Trump’s comments, its strongest price since early March. Altcoins followed BTC higher, with Ethereum’s ether (ETH) rising 8% over the past 24 hours above $1,700, and dogecoin (DOGE) and Sui’s native token (SUI) gaining 8.6% and 11.7%, respectively. The broad-market crypto benchmark CoinDesk 20 Index advanced 5.2%.

Stocks recovered from yesterday’s decline, with the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq finishing the session 2.5% and 2.7% higher, respectively. Gold, meanwhile, sharply reversed from its record price of $3,500 during the day and was down 1%.

“As capital rotates into safe-haven and inflation-hedging assets, BTC and gold are proving to be key beneficiaries of the exodus from USD risk,” analysts at hedge fund QCP Capital said in a Telegram broadcast.

They highlighted rejuvenating inflows to spot U.S.-listed BTC ETFs and the return of the so-called Coinbase price premium, suggesting demand from American institutional investors. BTC ETF booked over $381 million net inflows on Monday adding to Thursday’s $107 million, according to Farside Investors data.

Bitcoin resistance looms

But not all signs point to a sustained breakout.

Despite the price jump, on-chain data points to fragility beneath the surface, CryptoQuant analysts said in a Tuesday report.

Bitcoin’s apparent demand has decreased by 146,000 BTC over the past 30 days—an improvement from the sharp drop in March, but still negative. CryptoQuant’s demand momentum metric, which tracks new investor interest, has deteriorated further to its most bearish level since October 2024, the report noted.

Market liquidity remains soft, with the report using USDT’s market cap growth as a proxy for crypto liquidity. USDT grew $2.9 billion over the past two months, below its 30-day average. Historically, BTC rallies coincided with USDT growth above $5 billion, a threshold not yet met.

Adding to the caution, bitcoin is now facing a key resistance zone between $91,000 and $92,000 at around the “Trader’s On-chain Realized Price” metric, a level that has often served as resistance in bearish conditions. CryptoQuant’s on-chain bull score classified current market conditions as bearish, suggesting a pause or pullback could follow if sentiment weakens.

UPDATE (April 22, 21:42 UTC): Adds President Trump’s comments on U.S.-China trade from a press conference and following price action.

Immutable has launched its new Perpetual Rewards programme, offering players a chance to win cryptocurrency through weekly prize draws. The first draw went live on 10 April with a total pool of 235,758.46 $IMX tokens—equivalent to roughly $93,000 at the time of launch.

The programme builds on previous in-game reward systems and is aimed at players who have already participated in supported blockchain games. Those who have collected enough in-game currency known as Gems can now exchange them for entries into a weekly draw.

This marks a formal rollout of a system that was previously tested in beta. According to Immutable, draws will occur on a regular schedule and will include a range of digital prizes, primarily denominated in its native $IMX token.

What is the Immutable Perpetual Rewards?

The Perpetual Rewards programme is designed to distribute $IMX tokens and other in-game items to players based on their past activity. First announced in December 2024, it builds on an earlier initiative called “Main Quests,” which encouraged users to complete tasks in supported games to earn Gems.

Eligible games include Guild of Guardians and Illuvium, among others. Players accumulate Gems by completing in-game objectives which now serve as the main currency for participating in the rewards system.

The prizes in the Perpetual Rewards programme are distributed based on the player’s Key tier. Players who redeem a Key are eligible for prizes from different pools, which are segmented by the rarity of their Key. The prize breakdown for the first draw (235,758.46 $IMX tokens) includes the following tiers:

• Common Tier – 5.88% (13,862.60 $IMX)
• Uncommon Tier – 11.36% (26,782.16 $IMX)
• Rare Tier – 21.98% (51,819.71 $IMX)
• Epic Tier – 18.67% (44,016.10 $IMX)
• Legendary Tier – 17.12% (40,361.85 $IMX)

Additionally, there is a Mythic Draw, which holds 25% of the total prize pool (58,939.62 $IMX) and is open to everyone, regardless of Key tier. In this pool, 100 random winners will receive prizes ranging from 181.548 $IMX to 20,955.888 $IMX.

How to get involved?

To enter the Weekly Draw, players must redeem 500 Gems in exchange for a Key. Each Key represents one entry into that week’s draw, and only one Key may be used per player per week. The draw is divided into three phases:

• Phase 1: Redemption (Thursday to Monday): Players redeem their Gems for a Key.
• Phase 2: Rewards (Tuesday): Immutable processes all entries and determines rewards.
• Phase 3: Claim (Wednesday): Participants can log in to claim any prizes won.

Prizes include $IMX tokens, bonus Gems, future draw entries, and other in-game benefits.

Bitcoin (BTC) neared $93,000 on Mar. 2 as US President Donald Trump doubled down on a strategic crypto reserve.

Trump writes: “I also love Bitcoin and Ethereum!”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD gaining 8% in rare weekend volatility.

Trump ignited a crypto firestorm into the weekly close after posts on Truth Social referenced a crypto reserve that would include BTC, Ether (ETH) and several altcoins.

After initially referencing only XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA), the President’s account added plans for additional tokens.

“And, obviously, BTC and ETH, as other valuable Cryptocurrencies, will be at the heart of the Reserve,” it stated in a further post.

“I also love Bitcoin and Ethereum!”

Reduced weekend order book liquidity thus ensured swift gains across crypto markets, with BTC/USD almost hitting $92,000 on Bitstamp.

“Market changes happen when nobody expects it,” crypto trader, analyst and entrepreneur Michaël van de Poppe responded on X. 

“The last crash, probably the biggest manipulation ever for people to scoop up big positions in $BTC and $ETH. The bottom is in. The low is in on Altcoins. The final easy cycle has started.”

The run to local highs thus sealed upside of 17% versus the multimonth bottom near $78,000 seen just two days prior.

As part of the volatility, XRP managed to surpass ETH by fully diluted valuation (FDV). 

“This is what crypto has been waiting for,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter added in part of its own reaction.

$93,500 BTC price reclaim is still key

Continuing, popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital classified the dive to $78,000 as a “downside deviation.”

Related: When will Bitcoin price bottom?

As Cointelegraph reported, such deviation events have classified previous Bitcoin bull markets.

“Bitcoin has recovered almost the entirety of its downside deviation,” Rekt Capital wrote in a fresh analysis post.

“Price needs to now Weekly Close above the Re-Accumulation Range Low of $93500 to reclaim the range. And Bitcoin is only just +2% away from doing so.”

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.