Bitcoin Squeezes Shorts Near $70,000 as Record Liquidations Trigger Price Rally

The price of Bitcoin surged near $70,000 on August 19 after experiencing a massive short squeeze. The cryptocurrency's perpetual futures contracts saw approximately $1.1 billion in short position liquidations within 24 hours.

This is the first daily record exceeding one billion dollars in short liquidations for this asset, surpassing previous records of $757 million documented in May 2021 and $694 million observed in November 2025, according to K33 Research's historical analysis.

The total liquidation volume in the cryptocurrency market reached $1.92 billion on the same day, with most of the activity concentrated in a critical four-hour window where $1.73 billion was liquidated.