Cryptocurrencies have kicked off the week with strong momentum, brushing off recent corrections as Bitcoin approaches its peak prices from 2021 once again. Bitcoin (BTC) surged past the $69,000 mark during early U.S. trading hours on Monday, marking the first time in ten days and registering a gain of over 5% in the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH) also saw a 4% increase during the same period, while tokens of major layer 1 networks like Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX) surged nearly 10%.
The rally wasn’t limited to just a few assets, as virtually all digital currencies experienced gains. The broad-market CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) reflected this positive sentiment, rising by 4.5% over the day.
This sudden resurgence in prices also led to the liquidation of $195 million worth of leveraged derivatives positions across all crypto assets, with approximately $129 million of these being short positions aimed at profiting from downward price movements, according to data from CoinGlass. Bitcoin short liquidations stood at $53 million, which was below the average daily figure observed in recent times.
The relatively lower amount of short liquidations suggests that there weren’t many traders using leverage to bet on further price declines, indicating a shift in market sentiment towards a more bullish outlook.
