Bitcoin Pumps Above $69K as Crypto Rally Resumes

Cryptocurrencies started the week strong, shrugging off their recent corrective period with bitcoin once again trading near its 2021 peak prices.

Bitcoin {{BTC}} surged past $69,000 Monday during early U.S. trading hours, surpassing the level for the first time in ten days and gaining over 5% through the past 24 hours. Ether {{ETH}} was also up 4% during the same period, while tokens of major layer 1 networks Solana {{SOL}} and Avalanche {{AVAX}} advanced nearly 10%.

The rally extended to virtually all digital assets, with all constituents of the broad-market CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) being in the green and the gauge up 4.5% on the day.

The sudden resurgence liquidated $195 million of leveraged derivatives positions across all crypto assets, some $129 million of them being short positions seeking to profit from lower prices, CoinGlass data shows. Bitcoin short liquidations reached $53 million, less than the average daily figure of the recent period.

The amount of short liquidations was below with the average, suggesting that there weren't many market participants betting with leverage on continued weakness.