In recent weeks, the cryptocurrency market has witnessed one of its most aggressive shakeouts. The most recent liquidation heatmap shows that leveraged traders were severely impacted, as Bitcoin approached the $100,000 mark with over $298 million in total liquidations over the previous day.
With losses of $114,46 million, Bitcoin led the wipeout as expected, followed by Ethereum with $65 million. The brunt fell on shorts wiping out $215 million in short positions, indicating a traditional short squeeze setup. In terms of price, Bitcoin is now trading just under $100,000, indicating that its breakout rally is still going strong.
The asset is significantly above all three major moving averages (the 50, 100 and 200 EMA), and the most recent breakout candle firmly validates the current uptrend, confirming a strong bullish structure on the daily chart. Though it does not yet indicate exhaustion, the RSI, which is hovering around 70, may cause short-term volatility. Growing dominance directly leads to this violent action.
The dominance of Bitcoin has now clearly surpassed the 60% mark, which was a cautious target in the past and suggests that more money is being invested in BTC than in altcoins. As is currently the case, this type of dominance growth during a price spike usually strengthens Bitcoin’s hold on the larger market narrative. The ramifications are obvious: the market strength of Bitcoin is currently overwhelming.
However, at $100,000, the price action is now getting close to a crucial psychological and technical resistance zone. The next realistic range is between $105,000 and $110,000 if volume confirmation is obtained. Otherwise, if the long/short imbalance is still very high, a rejection might cause a quick decline back toward $92,000-$94,000.
As evidenced by its price and dominance, Bitcoin is currently, without a doubt, the market’s top predator. However, the following sessions will reveal whether Bitcoin actually establishes a new price paradigm or pauses before a correction given the spike in volatility and the clearing of the field by liquidations.