Bitcoin surges more than 15%; nears $8,500

Bitcoin's price surged from $7,400 to over $8,500 this morning — an upswing of nearly 15%. According to data from Rekto, over the past hour, derivatives exchange BitMEX saw over $162 million worth of XBT Perpetual Swap contracts liquidated. That is to say, a large number of bitcoin levered positions have been automatically closed by BitMEX's system. The price has since settled slightly above $8,400 at the time of this writing.

Bitcoin's price surge (Source: TradingView)

BitMEX Liquidations (Source: Rekto)