Short sellers lose $440 million as Bitcoin approaches $75,000.

Bitcoin (BTC) has risen 5.7% in the last 24 hours, reaching $74,679 and triggering a liquidation of over $540 million worth of crypto in the Derivative market.

This price surge caught short sellers off guard, with a total of 169,525 traders having their positions liquidated, according to data from CoinGlass.

Short sellers suffered the heaviest losses.

Short positions accounted for $440 million of the total losses, equivalent to approximately 81% of the total liquidated orders. Conversely, traders who opened long positions lost only about $100 million.

The majority of liquidated orders came from positions related to BTC, totaling $236 million, followed by Ethereum (ETH) at $143 million, Rave at $35 million, and Solana (SOL) at $11.37 million. The largest liquidation order was for a BTCUSDT position on the Aster exchange, valued at $12.40 million.

ETH also surged 9.4% to $2,388, while SOL rose 5.2% to $86.10.

Several factors simultaneously contributed to the liquidation of short positions. President Trump stated on Monday that Iran was eager to reach an agreement, suggesting a potential de-escalation of tensions following the failed ceasefire talks last weekend. The prospect of renewed dialogue significantly boosted risk appetite in the market.

On the institutional side, Strategy recently announced it purchased $1 billion worth of Bitcoin between April 6th and April 12th, 2026, adding 13,927 BTC to its reserves . Strategy now holds a total of 780,897 BTC, representing approximately 3.7% of the supply, further reinforcing confidence in demand from large businesses.

With short positions becoming excessively large before the weekend, a combination of optimistic geopolitical news and buying activity from large institutions led to a massive liquidation of short positions, pushing BTC above $74,000. However, whether the buyers can hold this price level will depend heavily on the outcome of upcoming negotiations between the US and Iran.