Ether and solana propelled cryptocurrencies higher on Friday, as pressure on bearish traders pushed bitcoin towards $62,000, capping the market’s first genuinely strong week since mid-June.
Bitcoin traded around $61,360, up 2.5% in seven days, according to data from CoinDesk. Ether rose 4.2% in 24 hours to around $1,702 and is up 9.7% for the week, while Solana remained near $80 with a weekly gain of 18.6%, the strongest among the majors. XRP added 5.7% over the week to $1.09 and Hyperliquid HYPE rose 5.1% on the day.
Traders who bet against cryptocurrencies lost $281 million in liquidations in the last 24 hours, compared to $159 million in long positions, out of a total of $440 million in forced closures among 95,690 traders, according to data from Coinglass.
When short positions are forced to close, they buy back the asset, and that purchase pushes prices into the next leg of short positions, the cycle that turns a modest bounce into a squeeze.
The largest single liquidation was an $18.2 million ether position on Hyperliquid, coinciding with a day when ether led the damage on bears with $157 million in positions wiped out against bitcoin’s $103 million in an unusual turn.
