Bitcoin price breaks out above $71,000, causing spike in short liquidations

The upward price trajectory of bitcoin over the past 24 hours has resulted in over $56 million worth of bitcoin short liquidations.

There have been over $193 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours in the cryptocurrency market. Of these liquidations, the vast majority, around $129 million, were short positions. Bitcoin short positions took the largest share of the damage, with over $56 million in liquidations in the past 24 hours, according to Coinglass data. 

The wipeout of short positions came as bitcoin broke above the $71,000 mark. The largest digital asset by market capitalization increased by over 6% in the past 24 hours and was changing hands for $71,041 at 5:42 a.m. ET, according to The Block's Price Page. Despite that, the GM 30 Index, representing a selection of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, has decreased by 5.43% to 157.83 in the past 24 hours.

Following the uptick in prices, QCP Captial analysts questioned whether a catalyst is in play that could see bitcoin reach a new all-time high. Bitcoin last reached an all-time high on March 14 above $73,000.

"There is certainly strong topside momentum with bitcoin breaking above $70,000 overnight on headlines that the London Stock Exchange will start trading ETNs for bitcoin and ether in May, and asset managers also continue to add bitcoin allocations as a 'portfolio diversifier'. Short of a broader macro risk-off, the next leg higher seems like an inevitability at this point," Tuesday's QCP Capital report said.

Spot bitcoin ETFs break five-day outflow streak

The net inflow into spot bitcoin ETFs on Monday totaled $15.7 million, according to data from SoSo Value, breaking a trend of net outflows for five consecutive days.

The spot bitcoin ETF with the highest single-day net inflow on Monday was Fidelity's ETF (FBTC), with a net inflow of about $261 million, followed by BlackRock ETF (IBIT), with a single-day net inflow of about $35.48 million.