Stephanie Douse 
Bitcoin’s recent rally during which the token came close to reaching 2022 highs, caught many traders off guard as they were expecting a drop.
As of Monday, approximately $140 million worth of Bitcoin short positions have been liquidated in the previous 12 hours, according to data.
Short positions in the cryptocurrency market surged over the weekend, with traders likely anticipating a consolidation following the market’s recent rally. Total market capitalization rose 12 percent to exceed $2 trillion in the last seven days.
A bulk of these gains may be attributed to improving institutional sentiment around cryptocurrency, which has resulted in several major hedge funds and Wall Street banks increasing their exposure to the space.
Increased whale trade has also boosted popular altcoins such as Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL)
Cryptocurrency’s current short squeeze
Data from Coinglass showed total short positions in cryptocurrency reached a one-month high on Sunday, as Bitcoin and major altcoins appeared to have taken a pause from their recent rises. In the last 12 hours, 81 percent of the market was short on cryptocurrencies, while 84 percent of BTC positioning was short at the same time.
However, the market rebounded in the early hours of Monday.
A bulk of short liquidations occurred during the past 12 hours, with the total amount of short liquidation in the market reaching a whopping $369 million. Exchanges FTX and Binance seemed to be hosting the largest number of short positions while the single largest liquidation order, was placed on Bitmex at $10 million.
Traders are anticipating further increases in bitcoin as it trades above $47,000 for the first time since early January. It’s possible that a new all-time high may be reached as well.
Top altcoins rally sees massive liquidations
In the past 12 hours, the top altcoin Ethereum (ETH), which outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) the previous week, has had $93 million in short positions eliminated. A total of $19 million in shorts were burned on Solana (SOL), while $4.6 million in shorts were burned on Ethereum Classic (ETC), which has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity since last week.
Interest in ETH has grown ahead of the blockchain’s transition to a proof-of-stake model, spreading to several other ERC-20 tokens.