Liquidations Split by Window: 1H 75% Longs, 4H 67% Shorts
Liquidations split by time window: the 1H and 4H frames are pointing in opposite directions
Liquidation data for the last 24 hours is $399 million, with longs at 48% and shorts at 52%, almost evenly split. Zoom into the 4-hour window and the picture changes completely: shorts took 67.4% of $157.6 million in liquidations, paying $106.2 million against $51.4 million from longs. The 1-hour window flips the other way, longs absorbing 75.2% of $41.5 million, or $31.2 million against $10.3 million for shorts. Reading only one window would give you the wrong impression of who is getting hurt right now.
BTC pushed through $79K and then stalled, with ETH following the same rhythm
Bitcoin is at $79,300 on Binance and $79,318 on OKX, up 2.1% over 24 hours, with a range of $76,649 to $79,440. Ethereum is at $2,512, up 1.9%, having swung from $2,387 to $2,520. The 4-hour short squeeze lines up with the rally into the highs, while the last hour of long pain matches the stall near the top. ETH led the largest liquidation of the day: a $6.9 million short on Binance at $2,482.9, followed by another $5.1 million ETH short at $2,557.3 and a $4.1 million SOL short at $97.24.
What the alternating squeeze says about positioning
This pattern is typical of a market that broke out but is not ready to run in a straight line. Shorts that piled in below $77K got cleared during the push to $79.4K, and the fresh longs that chased the breakout are now the ones being tested. Open interest rebuilding after a squeeze means new leverage is being put on at worse prices, which raises the chance of a sharp shakeout. The $76.6K low from the last 24 hours is the level to watch; a loss of it would flip the 4-hour story from short covering to long liquidation.
What to watch in the next few hours
The 1-hour skew has been swinging between 75% long and 96% long in recent windows, which suggests momentum traders are fighting each other rather than a clean trend. If the 4-hour window keeps showing shorts at two-thirds while the 1-hour stays long-heavy, expect more chop. If the 1-hour window turns short-heavy while price holds above $79K, that is a healthier setup for continuation. Funding and OI data are worth checking alongside, because the liquidation pattern alone does not tell you whether the next squeeze favors the long or the short side.
Data as of 22:20 Beijing time on Aug 24, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit, Hyperliquid, Gate and Bitget among major exchanges.