Ether and solana led the crypto higher on Friday as a squeeze on bearish traders pushed bitcoin toward $62,000, capping the market’s first truly strong week since mid-June.
Bitcoin traded at around $61,360, up 2.5% over seven days, according to CoinDesk data. Ether rose 4.2% in 24 hours to around $1,702 and is up 9.7% for the week, while Solana held close to $80 with a weekly gain of 18.6%, the strongest among the majors. XRP added 5.7% on the week to $1.09 and Hyperliquid’s HYPE was up 5.1% on the day.
Traders betting against crypto lost $281 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, compared to $159 million in long positions, out of $440 million in total forced closures across 95,690 traders, according to Coinglass data.
When shorts are forced to close, they buy back the asset, and that purchase pushes prices toward the next tranche of shorts, the loop that turns a modest rebound into a squeeze.
The largest single liquidation was an $18.2 million ether position on Hyperliquid, matching a day when ether did damage to bears with $157 million in positions wiped out against Bitcoin’s $103 million in an unusual reversal.
