Bitcoin Surges to New Heights as Short Liquidations Soar

Bitcoin ($BTC) is on the rise, nearing $87,000 on Friday as short liquidations topped $120 million over 24 hours. The cryptocurrency broke through sell orders around $85,000, reaching its highest price since September 23 at $86,857.

CoinGlass's heatmap showed a cluster of potential liquidations above $87,000 following the breakout, suggesting that investors may be facing significant losses if they try to short the market at higher price levels. This is not the first time this week that Bitcoin has faced liquidity walls, as data from onchain analytics platform Glassnode revealed that a concentration of sell orders around $85,000 had kept price action rangebound through the week.

However, buyers broke through this barrier, and according to Glassnode, 'with reduced ask liquidity above, this should allow price to move up faster.' Despite this, the area around $86,000 remains significant, forming the aggregate breakeven zone for investors in US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

In a sign of renewed interest in Bitcoin, US spot ETF inflows have cooled down since September 21, when the daily tally hit its highest in almost a year at $999 million. On October 1, US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $102.7 million, with BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) attracting $195 million.