Bitcoin price hits $80K as crypto short liquidations top $220 million

Bitcoin price hits $80K was the headline event after the U.S. stock-market open on Aug. 24, when BTC/USD briefly traded above that threshold for the first time since May 15. The move matters because it came alongside more than $220 million in crypto short liquidations over the prior 24 hours, a sign that rapid price swings were hitting leveraged positions.

TradingView data cited by Cointelegraph showed Bitcoin was about 3% higher on the day before it retreated following the European close. The brief move above $80,000 should not be read as evidence that the level held across every trading venue or throughout the session.

Crypto prices can vary by exchange and by the time a quote is taken. A separate bitFlyer reference-price snapshot showed Bitcoin below $80,000, and the platform says its displayed figure is a mid-price rather than necessarily an executable price.

What does a crypto short liquidation mean?

A short position is a bet that an asset’s price will decline. A liquidation occurs when an exchange forcibly closes a leveraged position because the price has moved against the trader enough to breach the required margin level, according to CoinGlass.

CoinGlass data cited by Cointelegraph put crypto short liquidations above $220 million in the rolling 24-hour period measured at the time of the report. A CoinGlass dashboard snapshot separately listed $222.04 million in short liquidations, within $443.11 million of total liquidations over 24 hours. Those figures are live, rolling readings, so they are snapshots rather than fixed totals for the day.

The CoinGlass dashboard also listed 96,020 liquidated traders in that 24-hour reading. Bitcoin accounted for $100.26 million of the short-liquidation total in the dashboard’s asset breakdown.

Technical levels remain under scrutiny

Cointelegraph reported that a CoinGlass liquidation heatmap showed bid liquidity centered near $76,700. That is an observation from a market-data tool, not a guarantee of price support. CoinGlass says heatmap levels indicate relative concentrations of potential liquidations and should be considered alongside other forms of analysis.

Trader and analyst Rekt Capital described Bitcoin’s next phase as a test of whether the advance can persist. He highlighted the 50-week exponential moving average, a trend indicator that gives more weight to recent prices, at $77,251. Cointelegraph said Bitcoin had recorded its first weekly close above that level since November 2025.

That technical view is an analyst’s interpretation, not confirmation of a lasting change in Bitcoin’s trend. The established facts from Aug. 24 are narrower: Bitcoin briefly moved above $80,000, then pulled back, as CoinGlass recorded elevated short liquidations in its rolling 24-hour data.

This story draws on original reporting from Cointelegraph.