Bitcoin Obliterates $118,600 – Over $1 Billion in Crypto Shorts Liquidated in Historic Rally

Bitcoin just rewrote the playbook—smashing through $118,600 like it was Monopoly money. Short sellers got steamrolled as over $1 billion in leveraged bets imploded in a blaze of glory.

The reckoning: Crypto’s ultimate ‘I told you so’ moment for permabulls. While Wall Street hedgies scramble to cover, retail traders are busy screenshotting portfolio all-time highs (and probably buying Lambos with 84-month loans).

Funny how these ‘black swan’ events always seem to swim in Bitcoin’s favor—almost like the ‘smart money’ keeps forgetting this asset laughs at conventional logic. Next stop? Either the moon or a 30% correction to keep things spicy. Place your bets.

Bitcoin’s price just rocketed past $118,000 for the first time, after rising 8.4% during the past week amid macro tailwinds and institutional demand. Many traders who bet against the asset surging were pummeled as the top crypto set a new all-time high of $118,667.

Meanwhile, BTC became the world’s sixth-largest asset after setting a fresh record, which pushed its market cap past $2.35 trillion.

Bitcoin’s Rocket Surge Sees Shorters Get Rekt

According to data provider Coinglass, more than $1.25 billion in positions were liquidated, with a whopping $1.11 billion of that coming from short sellers. This marks the largest short-side wipeout of this year so far.

Around 271,037 traders were liquidated in total, with the single largest hit being an $88.55 million BTC-USDT short on HTX. Bybit accounted for the largest share, at $461 million, with 77% of that figure on the short side.  Binance and HTX followed, witnessing $204 million and $193 million, respectively.

Short liquidations happen when traders borrow capital to bet against soaring prices, only to get forcibly closed out when the market moves against them. These events are spontaneous, indicating they not only lock in losses but often bolster bullish momentum as positions are force-sold into a skyrocketing market.

Bitcoin’s epic ascent has been accompanied by growing institutional adoption. July has already seen spot U.S.-listed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) propelling cumulative flows to over $50 billion. This unwavering institutional demand validates Bitcoin’s transition from speculative asset to portfolio allocation.

Bitcoin Flips Google In Market Cap Rankings

Bitcoin has surpassed Alphabet (Google) to become the world’s sixth valuable asset by market capitalization.

As of July 11, Bitcoin’s market cap surged to $2.356 trillion, edging past Alphabet’s $2.173 trillion valuation, according to asset ranking data. Close behind is silver with a valuation of $2.161 trillion.

The alpha crypto is now setting its sights on the world’s fifth most valuable asset, Amazon, currently valued at $2.359 trillion.