Liquidations Cool to $173M: Shorts Pay 55%, 1H Squeeze 84%

24H liquidations cool to $173.3M, shorts carry 55%

Network-wide liquidations came in at $173.3 million over the past 24 hours, a clear step down from the $400M-plus sessions recorded earlier in the week. Short positions accounted for $94.9 million of that, or 54.7%, meaning sellers took the bigger hit even though BTC spent part of the day under $78,000. Longs were cleared for $78.5 million, roughly 45%.

The 4-hour window shows where the pressure sat: $44.5 million wiped, with longs carrying 82% of it. That stretch covered BTC's slide from a $79,320 high down to a $77,560 low, and leveraged buyers who chased the top paid for it. The cooling in total volume matters as much as the split. At $173.3M, the flush cycle is losing force compared with the $456M wipeout seen last week.

Last hour flips to an 84% short squeeze

The story changed in the last hour. Liquidations in that window hit $3.5 million, and 84% of it was shorts, roughly $3.0 million. BTC bounced from the $77.5K area back to $78,140, and late short entries placed near the low got caught. It is a small number in dollar terms, but the direction flip is the signal: after longs were cleared in the 4H flush, the bounce is now hitting the other side.

BTC last traded at $78,140 on Binance and $78,144 on OKX, with the 24H range between $77,560 and $79,320. The rebound is modest and funding stays quiet, so this looks like position cleanup rather than a fresh directional push.

ETH leads coin-level damage with $47M, 64% shorts

ETH accounted for $47.0 million of the 24H total, the second-largest after BTC's $55.5 million, but with a different skew: shorts made up 64% of ETH's wiped value. ETH is up 0.7% on the day near $2,462, and short coverage is being forced as price holds above $2,435. UNI shows an even more lopsided print, 83% shorts among $3.4 million liquidated after its 16% surge, while ZEC at 72% shorts and SKR at 71% round out the short-heavy list.

Exchange split: Binance 56% shorts, Bitget the most skewed

Among venues, Binance processed $76.6 million, 56% of it shorts, and OKX $44.2 million at an even 50/50. Bitget ran the most short-heavy book at 63%, followed by Hyperliquid at 61% and Gate at 61%. HTX was the outlier on the long side at 40% shorts. The across-the-board short skew at the largest venues matches the coin-level data: sellers entered aggressively near the top and are now being squeezed out on the bounce.

Data as of 19:53 Beijing time, Sep 1, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit, Hyperliquid, Gate, Bitget and other major venues.