Bitcoin’s derivatives market experienced an unusual shake-up today, with liquidations leaning so heavily in one direction that they stood out even on a market synonymous with the term "volatility." Just in the last hour, around $13.48 million worth of leveraged Bitcoin positions were closed out, almost all of which came from longs, as per CoinGlass. 

With just $7,790 accounted for by shorts, the imbalance between the two was an incredible 17,300%.

Prices were not in freefall at the time. BTC was trading at around $119,500 on Binance, just below its earlier high of $120,000. Still, the way the positions were stacked meant that even a modest slip was enough to clear a cluster of long contracts. 

The heatmap shows Bitcoin dominating the liquidation board, far ahead of Ethereum’s $3.12 million and Solana’s $2.02 million, with most other currencies posting smaller figures.

Other side of FOMO

Expanding the time frame to the last four hours, it is clear that the imbalance remains: $126.8 million in long liquidations versus $5.98 million in shorts. Over the past day, however, the market has been more balanced, with $204.81 million liquidated on the long side and $208.10 million on the short side. 

This makes today's hourly snapshot look even more extreme.

What is interesting is that the sell-off that so unfairly erased bullish latecomers and extremely greedy Bitcoin bulls happened right after Michael Saylor and his company Strategy (formerly known as MicroStrategy) announced an acquisition of 155 BTC. 

As of press time, the software provider holds 628,946 BTC acquired for roughly $46.09 billion at an average cost of $73,288 per coin. That is almost $30 billion in unrealized profit for Saylor & Co.