Bitcoin extended its breakout from the September range on Monday, trading near $84,984 in late European hours. The largest cryptocurrency was up 5.4% over the previous 24 hours and remained above the Sept. 4 high of $82,284.
The advance has coincided with a wave of short liquidations, suggesting forced buying has played a major role in the move. Crypto traders saw roughly $746 million in positions liquidated over 24 hours, with short sellers accounting for $647.9 million. Liquidations accelerated further, reaching $159.9 million in the latest hour, 95% of which involved shorts.
Bitcoin shorts represented $277.5 million of the daily liquidations, while ether short positions accounted for another $122.8 million, CoinGlass data showed.
Rather than declining after the liquidation wave, market leverage has continued to build. Aggregate open interest increased 7.59% to $156 billion, while trading volume over 24 hours jumped 39% to $224 billion. The combination suggests traders are opening new positions as old ones are forced out, rather than pulling capital from derivatives markets.
Futures Market Turns More Bullish
Positioning in crypto futures has shifted toward buyers. The taker long-short volume ratio is now close to 53% on the long side, marking a change from the more balanced positioning seen in recent weeks. The reading indicates that aggressive market-buying activity is gaining ground.
Bitcoin futures open interest has also crossed 700,000 BTC for the first time in several weeks. Although the level remains below historical peaks, the increase shows that leveraged participation is returning as bitcoin gains momentum.
Binance whale data presents a more mixed picture. The whale account long-short ratio is around 1.0, pointing to roughly equal market-order buying and selling among large accounts. At the same time, the broader whale derivatives position ratio remains above 2.0, indicating that major traders continue to carry significantly more leveraged long exposure.
CRO has recorded an even sharper increase in derivatives positioning. Open interest in CRO futures has reached a record 536 million tokens alongside the token’s strong price performance. However, the surge in leverage has pushed annualized perpetual funding rates close to 60%. That level indicates an increasingly crowded long trade and could leave the market vulnerable to a sharp reversal or long squeeze.
Bitcoin and ether are also seeing strong buyer-driven flows. Both assets posted the highest positive 24-hour cumulative volume delta readings among the top 20 cryptocurrencies, indicating that market buyers are showing greater aggression.
Meanwhile, implied volatility has risen only slightly. Bitcoin’s BVIV and ether’s EVIV 30-day measures remain within ordinary ranges, suggesting options traders are not anticipating an unusually volatile rally.
Options activity is nevertheless tilted toward the upside. Traders on Deribit continue to favor calls on bitcoin and ether, while a large ether call spread was executed through Paradigm earlier in the day.
Sui and AI Tokens Lead the Rotation
Sui has become one of the strongest major-token performers, gaining 12.3% since midnight to $1.0073 and 21.4% over 24 hours. Futures open interest rose 28.9% to $402 million, showing that derivatives traders are adding exposure alongside the price increase.
The market’s leadership has also shifted toward artificial intelligence-related tokens. Artificial Superintelligence Alliance’s FET advanced 8.9% to $0.1911, while Bittensor’s TAO climbed 7.0% to $280.13. Venice’s AI inference token VVV had gained as much as 16% earlier in the session.
DeFi assets continued to participate, although their contribution has weakened compared with Friday. Aave rose 7.0% to $147.26, while Ether.fi’s ETHFI advanced 6.4% to $0.7691.
NEAR, which led the weekend rally, has slowed to a 2.9% gain since midnight at $4.29. The token remains up 20% over 24 hours, while its open interest has increased 26.8% to $882 million, indicating that derivatives positioning has remained elevated despite the cooling price action.
Dogecoin gained 10.2% over 24 hours to $0.0939, with open interest rising 15%. Avalanche climbed 14.1% to $11.22 as its open interest increased 19.5%. Both tokens have recovered after lagging the market during the middle of last week.
The broader crypto market is also firmly higher, with 95 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 components advancing and the index gaining 3.0%. Leadership has changed from Friday, when smaller-cap tokens and DeFi assets were the primary drivers.
Outside crypto, macro markets have been relatively steady. Brent crude traded around $101.97 after reaching $108 in mid-September, while gold declined 0.65% to $4,350. Silver fell 0.32% to $66.24.
